Tough kind of love
by Evapopeismyqueen
Summary: Rachel has two daughters, her oldest daughter Ellie seems to have gone off the rails and it's Rachel's job to get her back on track but how will she cope ?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Just had an idea for a new story so I'm going to see how it works out, tiny bit different from most of my others, basically Rachel has 2 daughters Alice aged 6 and Ellie aged 12, there dad died a year ago, Rachel met a new man - Danny. Ellie goes to a private school near them all. Have no idea what this will be like so just let me know.

Rachel saw the time on her alarm clock and realised it was time to get up, she sighed desperately wanting to stay in bed, another day of stress from work and fighting with her eldest daughter was not what she was looking forward to. She realised there was two people clinging onto her, her boyfriend Danny and her youngest daughter, who had finished up coming into her bed last night.

Rachel tried to get up however doing this while she had two people holding onto her was proving quite challenging.

"Mummy" Rachel heard Alice mumble obviously just waking up

"Morning darling" Rachel Said getting out of bed

"Where are you going?" Alice asked immediately getting worried, ever since her dad's death she always had been quite clingy to Rachel

"I'm just nipping in the shower love, I promise I won't be long" Rachel reassured her

"I want to stay" Alice said clinging to her mum

"I don't think the site of my in the shower will necessarily be a pretty one Alice, you just stop in bed with Danny while I have my shower then we'll get you ready for school"

"I need the toilet"

"Go and use mine then" Rachel said

She waited while Alice went to the toilet and them jumped in her shower while Alice went back to bed

While she was In there thoughts started racing round Rachel's head, most of them about Ellie, before her dad died she used to be as good as gold and would be near top of the class in every subject and Rachel would get nothing but good reports about her on parents evening or on her report, however since her dad's death she'd really started to rebel and was labeled as a disruptive girl who was a bad influence on others.

Every time Rachel would get a phone call home about her or would be asked to come in her heart would sink, it pained her that she'd let things get this bad with her daughter and prayed that one day she'd wake up and get back to her old self.

Rachel got out the shower and wrapped a warm towel around her body and went out

When she opened the bathroom door she saw that Danny was sat up and was playing with Alice making her laugh, unlike Ellie Alice had taken really well to Danny and he was becoming more and more like a father figure to her

"Hi beautiful" he said making Rachel blush

"Morning" she said cheerily before going over and kissing him on the cheek gently however this was still enough to make Alice giggle

"And what are you giggling at cheeky" Danny said laughing

"You and mum were kissing" she explained still laughing

"Is that not allowed in this house" Danny asked "you're not jealous are you"

Alice laughed and shook her head

"Hmm I think you might be jealous of a very handsome man kissing your mummy" he joked before going over and giving her a big kiss in the cheek too.

"Come on then missus let's get you all set for school" Rachel said picking her daughter up off the bed and placing her on her hip so she could carry her through to her room to get changed

Alice went and sat down on her bed and waited while Rachel got her school uniform out

"Mummy are you and Ellie going to have another fight today"

Rachel started at Alice for a couple of seconds she knew how upset she got when her and Ellie would argue and that was part of the reason why she finished up In bed with her last night, she finished up getting in a state after there last argument and hadn't been able to get to sleep she was that upset about it all

"Let's hope not darling" Rachel sighed "come on her those pyjamas off"

Alice stepped out of her pyjamas and began to get her uniform on while Rachel brushed her long blonde hair

"Mum this weekend can we go to the park together like we used to?" Alice asked

"Yes darling I think that sounds like a lovely idea" Rachel said smiling, she realised that with everything that was going on with Ellie at the moment she hadn't been spending enough time with her youngest daughter

"There that's you all ready then, now why don't you come with me to go and wake your sister up" Rachel suggested, she knew that Ellie was less likely to get in a strop if Alice was with her, most of the time Ellie was still gentle with her sister even after everything that had happened

Alice nodded and followed her mum through

Rachel saw that Ellie was just waking up when she came in

"Morning love" Rachel Said cheerfully

"What do you want?" Was Ellie's immediate response

"To come and get you up in time for school"

"I'm not going to that shithole today no way"

"Mind your language" Rachel snapped "your 6 year old sisters stood with me in case you haven't noticed, now come on up"

"I don't feel well"

"Ellie I really, really don't have time for this" Rachel sighed

Ellie looked at her mum she could see how tired she was,a he had dark circles round her eyes and her skin was pale, she couldn't bring herself to be horrible to her at the moment despite how she was feeling so reluctantly got out of bed and started getting dressed.

Rachel went downstairs and got breakfast ready for the girls, as she was doing so Danny came down and gave her a quick kiss goodbye before leaving for work.

About 10 minutes later all three of them were sat down at the breakfast table, however Rachel noticed Alice wasn't eating very much

"Alice are you okay darling?" Rachel asked with concern in her voice

"I don't feel very hungry that's all" Alice explained

"Oh don't you, we'll try and eat a bit more for me love you'll need some energy on you or you'll be shattered especially when you were late getting to sleep last night"

Alice tried to eat a bit more but could only manage a few more spoonfuls so Rachel then cleared the table and got the girls in the car.

She dropped Alice off first at her primary school and then drove to Ellie's school

"Bye darling have a nice day" Rachel said "and remember head down yes? I don't want any more calls or letters home or ..."

"Fine I get the pint" Ellie snapped before sauntering off into school

Rachel sighed as she watched her go past hoping that today would go okay for her.

She then drove to waterloo road and got out her car and headed straight to her office before registration

It was about 11 when she got the call. She immediately picked I'll and realised it was Ellie's school, this caused her heart to sink she wondered what it was her daughter had done this time but knew it must be pretty serious because her head of year had asked to come in immediately for a meeting with the head teacher and herself.

Rachel quickly made some arrangements before leaving school and driving to Ellie's school.

As Rachel walked through the school grounds and towards the headmistress office she couldn't help feel a little intimidated, it was such a grand school and she couldn't help but compare it to the school she'd worked in for the past year or so.

When she eventually got there she knocked and walked in and saw her daughter in floods of tears sat at a table

"Ellie what's happened love?" Rachel asked going over and kneeling down beside her

"Miss mason thank you so much for coming in at such short notice" mrs Clifton said "please take a seat"

Rachel sat down gingerly, she couldn't help but feel nervous as she did so almost as though she was a teenager again about to be told off

"Ellie do you want to tell your mother about what's happened today or shall I?" She asked

Ellie couldn't bare to face her mum so turned to her head teacher making it clear that she didn't want to be the one to explain

"Ellie's in quite a bit of trouble I'm afraid, over the past year we understand how difficult things have been for her and to some extent we've tried to tolerate her behaviour however today I had to break apart a rather violent fight between her and another girl, and what's worse is the fight didn't take place on school premises and actually happened near the centre of town, I went to go and look for her after I was tipped off by one of my other students that they'd seen her leave school after you'd dropped her off" she explained sounding serious "now the police were involved but I've persuaded them not to press charges"

Rachel didn't know what to say to any of this, she couldn't believe she was sat here being told this about her daughter, it made her feel so small.

"Ellie is this all true?" Rachel asked sounding quite desperate almost as if she was begging her daughter to defend herself

Ellie just nodded her head, not knowing what else to do

"Like I said we've tried to make allowances but it's getting to the pint now where I don't know what else to do with her and I don't think we as a school can help her much more" she explained "we've tried everything and nothing seems to be working"

"So ...so what are you saying" Rachel asked dreading the answer she thought she was going to get to this question

"I'm saying it's getting to the point where I'm going to have to ask Ellie to Leave"

"But surely ... I mean there must be something else we can try with her"

"Miss mason we really have tried everything" mrs Clifton said calmly "now what I suggest we do is, you take Ellie away for a bit, I've printed out a list of other possible schools for her but if after 2 months she can demonstrate to me that she really has changed her ways and is going back to the good sensible girl we all used to know and love then I'd be holly to have her back, but as things stand at the moment I can't have her in my school"

"Right well thank you for your time" Rachel said quickly getting up desperate to get out of the office

Ellie followed her mum out and to the car, when they were in there Ellie expected her mum to start screaming and shouting but it didn't happen, instead Rachel did something she very rarely let anyone see her do and started to cry.

Seeing her mum so upset made more tears fall down Ellie's cheek

"Mum I'm sorry" Ellie whispered

Rachel didn't listen and instead just drove home in silence though at this point Ellie would have preferred her to start yelling at her rather than just say nothing

After what seemed like an eternity they got home

Ellie was about to go up to her room however Rachel stopped her by saying "you know how I felt in there?"

Ellie shook her head in response

"I felt like 100s of parents do when I'm speaking to them, like there being branded as a crap mum because I'd never say this but that's how I feel when I'm talking to some of them, I always think that it's the parents responsibility to teach their kid right from wrong and any parent who hasn't done that has failed there kids , so is that what I am? Am I a crap mum Ellie because you know what right now that's exactly how I feel"

"No you're the best mum anyone could ever want" Ellie sobbed

"Really? I must have done a pretty awful job with you, 12 and kicked out of school yeah bloody fantastic mum me" Rachel cried Ellie couldn't stand seeing her mum like this she was normally so calm and in control of everything

"I can't explain it mum but it's not your fault it's me" Ellie said

"How could you do this to us" Rachel shouted

"I don't know what I was thinking I just ..."

"Get out of my site" Rachel said knowing if she talked to her daughter any more she was going to completely loose it

Ellie than ran upstairs and went to her bedroom

Once she saw her daughter had gone Rachel went straight to the fridge and poured herself a large glass of red wine despite it only being 12, Rachel didn't know how she'd get through the rest of the day without it so drank it quite quickly.

Once she was done Rachel called school and sort of explained to them what had happened so they'd understand why she'd need the rest of the day off, one thing Rachel was glad of was the fact it was Friday as she really didn't know how she'd cope of she had to go into work tomorrow after everything that had happened.

A few minutes later Rachel reached in her handbag and grabbed the list of schools mrs Clifton had given her to look at, she sighed as she glanced over them she knew that most of them were too far away for it to be anywhere near practical for Rachel to send her to, however then the name at the bottom of the list caught her attention, waterloo road, she wondered why she'd put that down surely she knew that was where Rachel worked and it was pretty unusual to have any member of staffs children going to the same school as them let alone a head teacher however now that Rachel thought about it, perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea, it would mean she could keep a very good eye on Ellie and maybe it would be enough to get her back on the right track, in fact the more Rachel thought about the better the idea seemed.

Of course Rachel knew how much Ellie would hate the thought of going to the same school as her mother but if it meant her behaviour improving then Rachel was prepared to give it a go.

It was about 2 when Danny came back in, Rachel and Ellie still hadn't spoken to each other as Ellie had kept herself locked away in her bedroom figuring it was for the best, Danny however had received a lot of frantic calls from Rachel and he could tell how worried she was so had taken the afternoon off to come and see her and hopefully calm her down.

As soon as Rachel saw Danny she went over and collapsed into him, since her husband he'd been the only man she could truly trust

Rachel then sat down on the sofa while he made her a coffee

"Take it Ellie's in a bit of trouble then" he said sounding calm

"Yep and I really don't know what to do" she admitted tears forming in her eyes again "I'm oafs angry you know, I didn't even have the energy to scream and shout though god knows I felt like it"

"I'll talk to her" Danny offered

Rachel thought for a moment before saying "okay give that a go"

Danny then walked up the stairs to Ellie's room he knocked on the door and to his surprise she let him in straight away

"Ellie your mums told me what happened" he said

"Oh so you've come to do her dirty work for her right"

"No, you should see the state she's in you know, I've nerve seen her like that before"

Ellie went and sat on her bed and cried so Danny sighed and sat down next to her

"Come on it's not that bad"

"It is mum hates me" Ellie sobbed

"She doesn't hate you Ellie, I know how disappointed she is and maybe even angry but she doesn't hate you, I think she's blaming herself more than anyone"

"I didn't mean to hurt her"

"I think the two of you need to talk, so I'm going to leave you two alone downstairs while it go and have a long walk down to pick your sister up, but remember your mum ... She loves you and she'll forgive you for it, from what I've heard she was no angel either at school"

"Thanks Danny" Ellie mumbled

She then stood up and began to walk downstairs feeling sick with nerves about facing her mum

"Rach someone here to see you" Danny said walking in with Ellie close behind him "I'm going to give you some space" he said before going off

Ellie stood at the door way not knowing what to do

"Sit down" Rachel said her voice still icy

"Mum I know you probably don't want to hear it but can I just say something" Ellie asked tears in her eyes

Rachel nodded her head in response

"It'd be stupid for me to say I'm sorry even though I am because I know it isn't good enough, but it's not your fault and don't think it is, it's just since dad I haven't handled things and I took my anger out in the wrong ways and I know I've taken It too far but I couldn't stop myself and I know everyone hates me including you probably but I really didn't mean to upset you but I know I have and if you want me to leave and go and live with grandma or something well I'd understand" Ellie said before taking a deep breath

Rachel sighed before saying "oh Ellie what on earth am I going to do with you? But I'll say one thing I do not want you to leave, you're my responsibility and however hard all this is we're going to have to find a way to get through it together aren't we? But I don't need to tell you how disappointed I am"

"I know" Ellie mumbled

"Why Ellie?"

"I couldn't face school so I went into town and this girl started calling me so I said something back and she started hitting me"

"It's not just today though is it" Rachel sighed "god if I was told last year my 12 year old was going to be kicked out of school I'd have thought they were crazy"

"I'm so, so sorry"

"You'll be even sorrier when I tell you what I'm going to do about it"

"Why what are you going to do with me"

"Send you to my school, for the 2 months you've got to reform yourself. It'll be a but of a step down from your school I can tell you but it's time you had a taste of reality my girl, and if that means 2 months with your mother as your head then so be it"

Ellie didn't know what to say, she knew how much she'd hate it but knew there was no point arguing about it

More tears fell down Ellie's cheek but still she remained silent

"Go on go back to your room I'll call you for tea but other than that stay up there" Rachel sighed although she'd calmed down a bit she wasn't going to just let her daughter off lightly

About 10 minutes later Danny came back with Alice he hadn't explained what had happened figuring it was probably best for Rachel to but Alice wasn't very holly anyway after having a pretty bad day at school.

"Alice" Rachel called from the living room wanting to see her youngest daughter

Alice immediately ran in and sat on her mums knee but when she did she burst into tears

"Oh dear someone seems a bit unhappy we'd best sort you out missus" Rachel said giving her a kiss in the forehead

"Rach I need to go back into work for a bit then I'll sleep at mine tonight" Danny said figuring Rachel would want some time alone with the girls considering everything that had happened

"Okay I'll see you tomorrow then" Rachel said

Once he'd gone she turned her attention back to Alice "now what's happened to make you this upset miss Alice"

Alice didn't say anything for a while just nuzzled her head into Rachel's chest and cried for a bit but this made her feel comforted as she could smell all her mums perfumes and stuff

"I didn't have a good day at school mummy" Alice whispered

"And whys that love" Rachel asked

"I got upset and then miss jones said I wasn't listening so she told me off and everyone was laughing"

"Why were you upset darling"

"Because I was thinking about you and Ellie and I was scared you'd have another fight"

Rachel sighed and hugged her daughter even tighter she wished all this didn't affect her so badly but it did and there'd been a number of occasions where Alice had ended up getting really upset about it all

"It's okay love I promise everything will be fine soon"

"Did you argue today"

Rachel was about to lie but realised there was no point after all Alice was going to find out sooner or later

"Yes darling you see the thing is your sister got into a bit of trouble today and I finished up getting called in and...well the school think it's best that we move Ellie to a new school for a couple of months before she goes back so Ellie's going to start coming to school with mum for a bit" Rachel explained

"Oh so was she really bad then" Alice asked

"I suppose she was yes" Rachel sighed "anyway it's absolutely nothing for you to worry about okay, but if you fancy doing me a favour and coming into the kitchen to help me with the tea then that'll be much appreciated"

Rachel knew that having Alice with her nearly always meant tea was a lot longer than it would normally be however she wanted a distraction for a while and thought Alice might need one too.

"Mummy can I go and see Ellie?" Alice asked

"I don't think that's a good idea at the moment darling Ellie's quite upset and I think she wants some time to herself" Rachel explained knowing Alice would probably get her head bitten off if she went anywhere near Ellie at the moment

"Okay" Alice said before continuing to help Rachel with tea

About 20 minutes later Rachel had got the tea out so had got Alice sat down and was just calling Ellie however she wasn't getting an answer so went upstairs to get her

"Ellie come and get your tea" Rachel shouted from the top of the stairs

However when she still didn't get an answer Rachel sighed and knocked on her door before walking in

Rachel was shocked when she saw the state of her daughter her face was red from crying and the mascara she'd put on this morning against Rachel's wishes had all come off and was smudged around her eyes, even her hair looked a mess

"Come on come and get something to eat" Rachel sighed

"I'm not hungry" Ellie replied

"Look Ellie I won't mention anything that's happened not at the dinner table anyway, I just want you to have some food"

"I can't go down like this, i look a mess and I'm really not hungry"

"Suit yourself" Rachel sighed "but this'll be your only chance to have something before morning"

Rachel hated being so cold towards her daughter when she was this upset but realised the only way she was going to get through to her now was with a bit of tough love

"Right me and Alice are going to eat so you stay up here please"

Rachel then went downstairs and ate her dinner with Alice but it seemed so quiet without Ellie there

"Mum I'm tired" Alice told her mum

"It is only 6:30 Alice" Rachel said "but I can put you in the bath if you want"

"Yes please" Alice said

Rachel quickly cleared up the table and went upstairs to run Alice's bath for her

"Come on then in you get" Rachel said

Alice quickly stepped out her school clothes and went in

"Do you mind if I nip down for two minutes love, I was just going to make myself a coffee"

"Yeah I'll be okay"

Rachel left her to it for a couple of minutes and came back up with a coffee in her hand, she out it on the desk in her study so she could have it in a bit once she'd finished bathing Alice

She gave Alice a quick wash before getting her out and wrapping a towel round her

"Come on let's get your pyjamas on" Rachel said

Alice followed her mum through to her bedroom and changed into her cosy pyjamas and then sat down in Rachel's bed while her mum dried off her hair

"There now your all set for bed since it's a Friday do you fancy going down for a bit to watch some tv or something"

Alice nodded her head in response she always did like her Friday nights where her mum would let her stay up a bit and watch the tv with her for a while before bed

"I've just got to send a few emails and things I need to sort out in the study first then I'll join you" Rachel said

Alice then went downstairs and out the tv on while Rachel sat down in the study and opened her emails, after she'd replied from a few from school, she sent one to Ellie's school about her plans for her daughter and then one to Chris mead about Ellie and her bringing her with her Monday. Once she was finished she went and sat with her daughter.

After a while however Alice started yawning a lot so Rachel decided it was time to take her up.

"Come on then you" Rachel said

Alice followed her mum up and quickly went to the bathroom before getting into bed

"Mum stay with me till I go to sleep" Alice said

"Okay"

Rachel went and laid next to her daughter on the other side of her big double bed

After 10 minutes or so Rachel heard her daughter snoring gently so decided to leave her to it and go down for a bit

When she was walking across the landing Rachel heard sobs coming from Ellie's room, she was about to just walk past, however she hadn't the heart to just leave her not when she was like this, so she knocked once on the door.

As soon as she did she heard Ellie fanatically moving around and she saw the light go off however she went in all the same.

When she did she saw Ellie was asleep or pretending to be

"Ellie" Rachel said sounding uncertain

When she didn't get an answer Rachel crouched down beside her

She didn't really know what to do she was hoping that Ellie would give up and open her eyes, but she didn't so Rachel sighed and gave her a little squeeze before going

As soon as her mum had gone Ellie began to cry again, she couldn't believe everything that had happened today and just wasn't able to get her head around it all

She went on sobbing because she just couldn't seem to stop herself, even though her eyes were stinging and she was beginning to feel really sick

When Rachel was on her way to bed she heard the crying from Ellie's room only this time it was more hysterical than it had been before and this made her worry so she began to run up and barged into her room

Rachel saw the state her daughter was in and rushed over

"I going got be sick" Ellie told her

Rachel was about to rush out to find something but Ellie started being sick all over her duvet

"Oh god" Rachel sighed before rushing to her

Ellie tried clasping a hand over her mouth and was going to run to the bathroom but Rachel stopped her and pulled her hair back as she continued to be sick

"Don't try and move, no point trying to save the sheets now darling" Rachel said "that's it i

good girl"

Once she'd finished being sick she began to shiver and cry

"Hey why were you sick were you not feeling well?"

"No I just couldn't stop crying and then I just felt really sick I'm so sorry you don't have to stay with me, I'll sort it out myself"

"Ellie I know we're not exactly each others favourite person right at the minute but I'm still your mum love it's my job to fuss over you, come on up you get, get those pyjamas off" Rachel ordered

Ellie did as she was told and handed them to Rachel before quickly getting into a fresh pair

"You know I hate to think of you getting in such an awful state you finished up making yourself sick you really could have come and found me, even if I wasn't exactly pleased with you"

Rachel then pulled the sheet of the bed and duvet and threw them in the wash and swapped them for new ones

"Come down with me for a bit darling"

Ellie followed her mum down however her head was still swimming, she prayed she wasn't going to be sick again though she was beginning to feel really distant

They'd got to the bottom of the stairs and suddenly Ellie started to fall to the ground but luckily Rachel caught her

"Ellie" she said sounding really worried

"Mm" Ellie replied

"You nearly fainted" Rachel said helping her through to the living room and lying her down on the sofa before quickly making a cup of coffee for her

"Drink this it'll help I promise"

Ellie sipped at it but started to sob, this time however Rachel was there to put her arm round her and let her have a good cry into her chest

"Hey" she said "it's surely not as bad as all that"

"It is I've let everyone down and I'm the worst daughter ever and I'm surprised you haven't chucked me out"

"Oh Ellie we all make mistakes, granted this was a pretty big one but we'll get through, I'm not promising it'll be easy because I'm going to make bloody sure these next couple of months are tough in terms of school work and discipline but we will find a way to make it all okay"

"If dad was here he'd hate me" Ellie mumbled

"He wouldn't, he'd be so, so disappointed just like I am, because you see Ellie as a parent all you ever want from your kids is there best and if they give that who can possibly ever ask anymore but recently you haven't been giving your best, you're such a lovely smart girl and you know what if you out your mind to it you could achieve so much but you just don't seem to want to anymore"

"I do but things were so hard and I did bad things and teachers wouldn't stop going on at me and then they just presumed I was bad and I felt like it was what everyone expected so there was no point"

"That's why I think these two months away are for the best, moving schools will be hard but you will settle in I promise"

"Yeah great because everyone's going to want to become mates with the head mistresses daughter" Elsie said giving a sad smile

"Just give it a try it won't be as bad as you think I promise" Rachel said

"Okay"

"How about we go to bed, I think it's what we both need after today" Rachel said

"Yeah"

"And Ellie I know how bad things have seemed but I am here for you any time you need me. I do love you so much you know"

"I love you too mum" Ellie said giving her mum a big hug

"Come on then let's head up"

So the two of them headed to bed and quickly fell asleep although they knew how tough things would be they felt better knowing they had each other

Please let me know what you think, depending on reviews and how much I'm enjoying writing it might only do a few chapters xxxxxxxxx


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was the Sunday night before Ellie was starting at school, she'd tried not to think about it too much but now it was really playing on her mind. She wished she could just fast forward the next few months so she could be back at her old school, with her old friends, although she was always complaining about it she used to quite like her school, she would just get into trouble a lot.

Ellie couldn't seem to stop tossing and turning in her bed now, every time she closed her eyes new thoughts would start whizzing round her brain about school and she couldn't stop worrying, she saw the clock next to her bed and realised that she really needed to get some sleep as it was already nearly 1 in the morning, however knowing she needed sleep made it all the more difficult to get to sleep.

Rachel woke up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, however after she'd been she heard movement coming from Ellie's room so went to investigate.

She wrapped a dressing gown around herself before creeping out her bedroom and across the landing to Ellie's.

After knocking once on the door Rachel went in and saw Ellie sat up in bed

"What you doing up at this time"

Ellie just shrugged her shoulders not really knowing how to explain

"Come down and we'll get a drink"

"Shouldn't I be asleep"

"Well yes normally at 1:30 In the morning I would generally suggest being asleep is a good idea however if you can't there's nothing worse you can do than just sit up in bed"

Ellie was glad to get out of bed so followed her mum downstairs, she was a bit nervous about what she was going to say though, ever since Friday night Rachel had been a lot calmer about it all however there had been the odd instance where she'd ended up getting all het up and had snapped quite badly at Ellie.

Rachel went into the kitchen and came back with two cups of chamomile tea

"Right I don't know what this will taste like but it's meant to help with sleep so why don't we both give it a try huh" Rachel suggested

Ellie took the cup off her mum and sipped it but immediately had to dash to the downstairs toilet to spit it out

After seeing her daughters reaction to it Rachel couldn't help but go off the whole idea so decided to just leave hers

"Take it, it's not the best them" Rachel said laughing slightly

"It's bloody disgusting" Ellie said "how can anyone drink that, please never ever buy that again"

Rachel smiled and then say down on the sofa with her daughter

"So why couldn't you sleep then love"

Ellie just shrugged her shoulders again still not knowing exactly what to say

"well I'll suggest something then, is it maybe because you're absolutely terrified about starting school tomorrow and worried about what people are going to think of you? Worried about the teachers? Worried about the lessons? Probably even worried about the school dinners" Rachel suggested

Elsie smiled slightly but her mum had hit the nail on the head so to speak.

"Well would you say I'm right then?"

"Yeah I guess you are as usual, but I wouldn't say I'm terrified it's just so eying I can't stop thinking about and I've been worried all weekend but I haven't really wanted to say anything because well I just didn't think you'd give me any sympathy after everything that's happened"

Rachel sighed before edging closer to her daughter and sitting down right beside her

"You know your right in thinking I'm angry, it'll take me a while to get over all this I'd be lying if I told you It wouldn't but what that doesn't mean is that I stop being your mum, I am still here you know if you need me"

"I do know I've brought this on myself you know mum" Ellie sighed

"In some ways I suppose you have, but I know exactly how hard things have been both at school and at home since... Well you know your dad died"

It was strange for Ellie to hear Rachel say the bit about her dad normally she didn't mention it much at all now, Ellie knew how much her mum was hurting even though she'd never admit it to anyone, sometimes when Danny wasn't staying over Ellie would wake up in the middle of the night and hear her mum crying, it was so strange for her to hear her mum cry, she was so strong in front of everyone even when they were faced given the news she didn't shed a tear in front of the girls.

"He'd have had a massive go at me if he'd have been here"

"Yeah don't think you're wrong there love, he was the one who'd do most of the bad cop stuff when he was around"

"You're still not good at being bad cop mum" Ellie said laughing

"Oh I have my moments like you do but I do love you and Alice so so much no matter how much trouble you get into"

"I know mum"

"And about tomorrow it's a fresh start Ellie and you know what you're going to be just fine, if you just be yourself you've got a lot going for you already darling, you're funny and clever and very beautiful" Rachel said causing her daughter to blush slightly

Ellie didn't say anything but out her head in her mums chest for a bit and had a proper cuddle and immediately this seemed to make her feel quite a lot better.

"Mum I think I can go up to bed now" Ellie said

"Good it's about time we both did I think" Rachel said

The two of them got up off the sofa and began to walk up the stairs to bed

When they were on the landing Ellie said "thanks for everything mum"

"It's okay love that's what I'm here for"

"Night"

"Night darling try and get a decent sleep now even if it will only be a short one"

"You too mum"

"I'll try my best but it's quite difficult when I have Danny taking up one half of the bed and your sister taking up the other and I'm the poor sod squashed up in the middle" Rachel said laughing slightly

"Why's Alice in there I thought you'd stopped her coming In your bed now" Ellie asked confused, she knew her mum had stopped Alice coming in for a while because she thought she was getting too used to it and it would be even harder to break the habit the longer she stopped in.

"Well I did but she's been so unsettled recently it's far too much effort to make her sleep on her own, but I'm going to try and sort it out over the next few days"

Ellie said goodnight to her mum again before going into her room

She snuggled up in bed and as soon as her head hit the pillow she started to relax a bit and unlike before she was able to go to sleep

The morning came around far too quickly for both Ellie and Rachel's liking

Danny had already got up to go to work so it was just Rachel and the girls

Surprisingly as soon as Rachel woke Ellie up she got up straight away

"Blimey has my daughter already been replaced" Rachel joked "god if you've transformed this much over night then your practically going to be a saint after two months"

Ellie laughed before beginning to take her pyjamas off

"What should I go to school in?" Ellie asked

"Ah glad you asked" Rachel said before dashing off

After about 2 minutes Rachel came back however this time she had a new uniform in her hand

"Where the hell did you get that from" Ellie asked

"Well I nipped into town yesterday when you went swimming with Alice and Danny and I found the shop that sells our uniform so I bought you it"

"Well how did you know what size to get"

"It's not rocket science, you're 12 years old about average height for your age so I got age 12"

"I wish you'd got me to come with you" Ellie sighed

"What so you could have persuaded me into buying a skirt 5 sizes to small for you, like last time we went uniform shopping together, no thanks you need to make the right first impression young lady"

"Well I think the fact everyone knows I got excluded from my last school kind of sways peoples thoughts about me already doesn't it"

Rachel sat down on her daughters bed before saying "no love, no it doesn't you know I'm perfectly aware that at your last school well things were a bit different, let's just say in don't really expect there was quite as much drugs, knives and gangs"

"Oh thanks mum you're making me feel so much more relaxed about going" Ellie said sarcastically

Rachel smiled before saying "look I just mean no one at my school is perfect and I've seen far worse students than you come along and really make a go of it and fit in just fine"

"I hope it goes okay" Ellie said "they won't think I'm stuck up will they. Because I go sorry went to private school"

"No love I'm sure they won't stop panicking"

Rachel stayed with her daughter a minute or so longer

"Anyway I'll leave you to get ready don't be too long breakfast in 10"

Ellie picked up her uniform before trying on the shirt and doing her tie up, to her surprise it actually didn't look too bad on her, she then put the skirt on.

She wasn't surprised to see that Rachel had got one she knew would be a tiny bit longer than Ellie actually needed however it really wasn't too bad, but she hitched it up quite a bit all the same.

Ellie then straightened her hair out and out on her makeup, before going downstairs

When Rachel first saw Ellie she gave her a slightly disapproving look die to the skirt and makeup but didn't say anything, Rachel knew how important it was for Ellie to fit in and somehow thought see struggle a bit with this if she came in the regulation knee length skirt and no make up.

"You look nice Ellie" Alice said

"Thanks al"

"Mum please can I go to Emily's house to play after school"

"Yes love if I check its okay with her mum first"

"Mum when I'm older what school will I go to the one Ellie used to go to or the one Ellie's going to now"

"Well by the time you get there Ellie will be in her last year at school and hopefully will be back in her old school If she behaves herself so I'd imagine you'd go to that one but we'll have to talk about it more when your older won't we"

"Yeah"

The 3 of them chatted for a bit longer before it was time to set off

As soon as Rachel had rolled Alice off Ellie began to butterfly's in her stomach

"Mum I don't think I can go In, I'm going to be sick"

"It's just nerves darling it'll wear off as soon as you get in I'm sure"

Ellie held her stomach but by the time they'd pulled up at waterloo road she really was feeling sick

She looked round at the playground around her taking it all in, it seemed so different from her old school, everywhere looked so run down and the kids were all dressed rather scruffily she thought

It wasn't that Ellie was a snob, Rachel had brought her up making sure she wasn't despite her going to one of the most prestigious schools in the area, however she couldn't help but be a little shocked at her surrounding

"Come on then let's go up to my office" Rachel said calmly

Ellie got out the car but almost as soon as she did people started staring at her

Much to Rachel's disapproval some of the boys started whistling at her when she got out, however in all honestly she wasn't really surprised even at a young age her daughter often got attention off boys

"Hi sexy" one of the boys called

Ellie stared at her mum not knowing what to do

"Hey pack that in" Rachel called to some of the boys mucking around by the wall

"Who's that girl with you miss" one of the girls standing near Rachel asked

"This is my daughter Ellie she's going to be coming here for a bit" Rachel said "Ellie this is Chloe"

"Hi" Ellie said feeling a little shy, this was unusual for Ellie normally she was so confident meeting new people

"Hey what year you in?" Chloe asked

"Year 8 what about you" Ellie replied already taking quite a shine to this girl she seemed really nice Ellie thought

"Same oh do you know what form you're in, I hope your in ours, it's a right laugh we've got clarkson and ..."

"I think you'll find it's mr clarkson" Rachel said however she wasn't really being serious she was glad to see Ellie had got chatting to Chloe although she was by no means the model student and her friendship group was pretty loud Rachel knew that Ellie wouldn't really fit in with any of the quieter groups and Chloe was a nice enough girl

Rachel walked Ellie up to her office

"Mum she seemed nice will I be in mr clarksons form"

"Well you weren't initially but I suppose I could work my magic" Rachel said on the way up

Ellie followed her mum through to her office

She stared around finding it weird that her mum actually worked here, it was also strange seeing her with the other pupils but they all actually seemed to like her.

"Right I'll print your timetable off, you're going to have to spend an hour in here with me I'm afraid before I let you go off to your lessons"

"Why" Ellie asked

"Well I was going to tell you this last night but I forgot, we give all our new students a test just to see what level there at to make sure we put you in the right classes"

"But I didn't know... I mean I can't do a ..." Ellie stammered immediately feeling really panicked

"Darling it's nothing to worry about it's just procedure that's all"

Ellie knew there was nothing she could say but she felt tears brimming in her eyes however she brushed them aside so they went unnoticed by Rachel

"Right I'll just find it amongst all this other crap I've got stored in here you get your stuff out"

Ellie was shaking slightly but got out her pencil case while her mum found the test

She prayed her mum had lost it somehow so she wouldn't have to sit it but she saw Rachel Reach in a drawer and pull it out

"Here we are, name on the front answer everything" Rachel said "you've got an hour then I'll mark it, one halves maths the other english

Rachel then left her daughter to it and sat down at her computer

Hands shaking Ellie opened the paper however as soon as she did she knew she didn't know anything

She tried a few questions but knew she wasn't doing it right, tears began to fall from her eyes into the paper

At first Rachel was too engrossed in the letter she was writing to notice her daughter upset but when she went to go make herself a cup of coffee she saw her

"Darling what's wrong" Rachel asked kneeling down beside her

"I can't do it" Ellie sobbed

"Why not love are you not feeling well" Rachel asked confused

"No I don't know anything" Ellie sobbed before getting up and running out

"Ellie" Rachel called feeling really worried she started to run after her

Luckily there was no lessons so she quickly caught up with her

"Hey it's okay love" Rachel said wrapping her arms around her daughter "come in let's go back to my office so we can talk"

Ellie followed her mum back and sat down

"Now what do you mean you can't do it, Is it just different from the stuff you've done at school"

"No I just can't do it mum"

"Darling I don't understand you do really well In all your lessons" Rachel said

"I don't mum, ever since dad I started finding it so hard to concentrate I fell behind and it's so hard to keep up and they tried sending letters home but I got them first and binned them I just didn't want you knowing please don't be mad" Ellie begged

Rachel sighed before giving her daughter a big hug

"Oh sweetheart I'm not mad it's not your fault hey it's okay"

"You're really not angry"

"No I'm not promise" Rachel said " I know how clever you are but how difficult it is to catch up when you fall behind but everyone here is here to help and we are going to help you love"

"How?"

"Extra lessons especially in maths and english, I can help with english though can't I?"

"Thanks so much mum"

"That's okay darling I'm just sorry you didn't feel you could tell me about this sooner" Rachel sighed "anyway let's leave it at least till the end of the day, now right now you're supposed to be in PE with miss Layton so I'll walk you to the gym"

Rachel out her arm around her daughter and walked her there

Ellie felt nervous as she changed into her pe stuff and went to join the other girls however as soon as she went out there she began to feel more relaxed, everyone was so friendly even though they knew exactly who her mum was.

After just her first lesson She felt as though she'd been here forever and already she knew loads of people, maybe Ellie thought to herself coming here wouldn't be so bad after all ...

Please review xxxxxxxx


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was a Sunday afternoon and the 4 of them were all getting ready to go down to the village BBQ, the weather was boiling hot so it was the perfect day for it and everyone was quite looking forward to it as they were in quite high spirits anyway as tomorrow was there last day of school before they broke up for the summer holidays.

Rachel was in her bedroom trying to decide what to wear, she knew it wasn't really the type of event anyone would bother dressing up for, however she wanted to look nice all the same.

She was still just in her bra and knickers when Danny came in

"What you doing Rach?" He asked

"Trying to decide what to wear, why don't you give me a hand"

"Just go like that you look pretty good to me" Danny joked before coming over and wrapping his arms around his girlfriend, Rachel always loved it when he did this it made her feel all warm inside, but she wasn't about to admit this at the moment!

"Bugger off will you" Rachel said before hitting him playfully "or better still get ready yourself"

Danny looked at Rachel confused for a moment before saying "I am ready"

Rachel laughed for a moment but then saw the look on his face and realised he was being completely serious

"Your in the top you've been gardening in and fixing that leak on the car" Rachel said In disbelief, Danny was actually very good looking and took care of himself in terms of appearance but when it came to what he was wearing he would often get it badly wrong

"Yeah but it's just laid back isn't it" Danny said casually

Rachel sighed before saying "dan there is a difference between casual and looking as If you belong on the streets, I'm not asking you to go in a bloody suit, a clean t shirt would be a good start though"

"Yes ma'am" Danny said rolling his eyes dramatically "god you should count yourself lucky"

"Why?"

"Well do you think I'd have any other woman giving me orders all the time"

Rachel smiled before wrapping her arms round Danny again, however just as she did so her bedroom door swung open causing the two of them to jump.

When Rachel turned round she saw Alice stood laughing

"And what are you giggling at missus" Rachel asked going over and picking her daughter up.

"You don't have any clothes on mummy and you were going to kiss Danny"

"Oh no I wasn't" Rachel said laughing

She sat Alice down on her bed while she had another quick look through her things before eventually deciding to put on her white jeans, with one of her favourite summer tops.

"You look pretty mum" Alice said once her mum was changed

"Aw thanks sweetheart" Rachel said before kissing the top of her daughters head "right should we go and get you changed love? That tops a bit messy"

Alice followed her mum through to her bedroom and Rachel found her a top and skirt to change into.

"Mummy how come you and Danny always kiss each other all the time" Alice asked

"Well because we love each other and so sometimes you show how much you love someone by giving them lots of kisses and cuddles, just like I give you lots of cuddles and kisses"

Alice thought for a moment before saying "yes but there not the same type you give Danny"

"Well you give different types to different people"

"I wouldn't want to have the ones you give Danny there all long and yucky"

"Well then it's lucky your avoiding them then isn't it"

"Mum who do you love more me or Danny"

"How could I possibly ever love anyone more than my best little girl in the whole world" Rachel said

"What about Ellie"

"Well she's my best big girl ... Speaking of Ellie I'd better go and check she's nearly ready to go"

Rachel stood up and walked to Ellie's room, ever since Ellie's move to waterloo road her behaviour had improved significantly Rachel couldn't work out if it was because she was so desperate to move back to her old school, so she knew for her 2 months she was at waterloo road for she'd need to get her head down or because she was enjoying school more now she'd moved, either way Rachel thought it was so nice to have the old Ellie back and despite a few incidents she and Ellie had really started to get on better.

When Rachel got to her daughters room she knocked twice on her door like she always did

"Ellie it's me is it okay if I come in?"

"No" Ellie replied instantly

Rachel frowned a little not understanding why her daughter wouldn't let her in "why not love?"

"You just can't"

Rachel didn't know whether to just go in anyway or leave it, she thought Ellie sounded a bit upset though so she wanted to see of she could help, so eased open the door and saw her daughter laid on her bed face down.

"Hey what's up?" Rachel asked before going over and crouching down beside her.

"I'm not going to the BBQ"

"You were looking forward to it before" Rachel said feeling quite confused "darling what's happened?"

"I don't feel well" Ellie lied

"Okay how don't you feel well"

Ellie struggled to think of something to say, she never could lie when under pressure, even if it was just about something small like this.

"Ellie come on tell me what's wrong"

Ellie sighed before sitting up and leaning against the wall behind her bed, so Rachel got up and sat beside her on the bed.

"I can't go, look at my face"

"Oh god yeah, you've suddenly turned into a troll over night" Rachel joked "hey I'm only kidding darling, you look every bit as beautiful as normal to me, why what do you thinks wrong with it"

"Look at the spots I've got all over me, it looks awful" Ellie sobbed

Rachel looked more closely at her, it was true she did have a few spots but they were hardly noticeable and her daughter really did still look very beautiful, but she could also understand that at Ellie's age you were going to feel conscious about things like this, Rachel knew she certainly did when she was Ellie's age.

Rachel opened her mouth just about to tell Ellie that no one could notice, and there was no need to be worried about them, when Ellie stopped her "and don't tell me you can't see them because you can" Ellie cried

"I've tried caking my face in foundation and cover up but it just makes it look even worse" Ellie told her mum

Rachel thought for a moment before saying "come with me darling"

Ellie got up and Rachel took her into her bedroom which was empty since Danny had now gone down with Alice.

"Right sit down at my dressing table, give me two secs and I'll be with you"

Ellie sat down on on the chair feeling quite intrigued as to what her mum was going to do to her.

Rachel came back in a minute or so later, with her full make up bag.

"Right let's see what I can do" Rachel said standing so she was in front of her daughter

She reached in her makeup bag and got out the makeup remover so took off all the foundation Ellie had piled on, before putting her best concealer over all her spots, before getting out her foundation.

After about 10 minutes or so Rachel had finished so Ellie turned round and looked in the mirror, she gasped when she saw herself, her mum had managed to completely cover all her spits and her skin looked perfect.

"Thanks so much mum" Ellie said smiling

"That's alright love, though don't think putting makeup over it is the answer to everything, you need to get rid of the problem not just cover it, so after school tomorrow we'll nip into tone and get some of this really good skin stuff I use"

"But I don't get it how come you managed to make my skin look like this, and it doesn't even feel like over got much on, when I tried ..."

"Well you see the concealer and foundation I use is quite a bit different to the one use, the concealers Clinique and that foundations bare minerals, but they cost a flaming fortune!"

"There so good, definitely worth it mum"

"Yeah well, I'll tell you what I'll get you some of your own when we go into town tomorrow"

"Really" Ellie said sounding really pleased, she loved it when her mum was in a lovely mood like she seemed to be today because it often led to her treating her and Alice to quite a bit of stuff.

"Well you deserve a treat anyway after all the excellent reports I've been getting off all your teachers"

"Thanks mum"

The two of them then went downstairs to catch up with the other two, who were waiting in the hall both ready to go.

"Ah finally, you took your time didn't you"

Rachel didn't say anything in response, she just out her wedges on and opened the door so everyone could get out.

Rachel realised as soon as she'd got out she'd forgotten to out sun cream on her and the girls, however she knew it would be too much of a faff on going back in now so just hoped no one would burn too badly.

It was nice for them all to make the walk down together to the village

"God we've been doing this walk for a while now haven't we girls"

"Yeah and we always go to this BBQ every year" Ellie said

Rachel smiled to herself, it was true ever since Ellie was a baby her and Chris would take her down, she could remember it all quite clearly, when Chris was alive they had been like the perfect happy family, he was always amazing with the girls and they'd often do loads of stuff as a family.

"Mummy, do you remember that time when daddy fell in the river while he was helping cooking the BBQ" Alice said

Rachel laughed, she could remember it quite clearly

"How could I ever forget it, god he amount of complaining he did" Rachel said

They chatted for a bit longer as they walked, it was nice for them to have conversations like this now and then, Danny liked it when she heard Rachel talking about her past husband, although Rachel loved Danny, he knew how much Chris meant to her and how much she missed him even now.

After a relatively short walk they arrived at the BBQ so the girls immediately went off to meet up with some of there friends so Rachel and Danny did the same.

It didn't take long for everyone to feel completely relaxed and they were having a really nice time especially with the weather being so hot at the moment.

Rachel sat on one of the chairs next to her friend Claire and they began to have a good catch up, however they hadn't been talking long when suddenly Rachel saw Ellie running towards her.

"Hi darling" Rachel said smiling

"Hi mum do you mind if I come and sit with you for a bit, you're more in the shade than we were over there"

"Course I don't mind love come and sit down" Rachel said before pulling a chair out for her daughter.

Ellie sat down beside her mum and Claire, enjoying being in the shade a little bit.

"So you liking your new school Ellie?" Claire asked

"Erm yeah it's okay thanks" Ellie said, she knew that her mum hadn't told anyone about what had happened at her last school because Ellie had made her promise not to, but she did feel a little uncomfortable talking about her new school all the same.

"Oh good" Claire said giving Ellie a smile "anyway Rach, I was going to ask if you, Danny and the girls fancied coming to ours this time next week, we're having a little party for James's 40th but nothing too big just some close friends and family"

"Urm yeah that should be fine, though apologies in advance if I'm a little stressed out by then, we go away to America the next day and you know what trying to get 2 kids and a man organised can be like"

Claire laughed before saying "well if you turn up acting like a crazy woman we'll understand why"

Everyone sat round talking for a bit longer however before long the food was ready, so they all got up and got served.

"Mum do I really have to to into school tomorrow" Ellie sighed

"I'm afraid so love, believe me if there was any opportunity to close school tomorrow I would take it ... Hey do you reckon I could persuade them it's too hot to go in" Rachel said she was only joking but she saw Ellie's face light up at the thought of her school holidays starting early.

"Unfortunately I am only joking" Rachel said after seeing Ellie's face

They ate the rest of the food, which was all really nice before Ellie and Alice went off again.

The four of them stayed for a couple of hours however then they decided it was time to head off back home as Alice was getting quite tired.

"Mummy after school tomorrow can we go to the beach?" Alice asked hopefully

"We'll see darling, maybe we'll just have a quiet night in tomorrow but then on Tuesday we can spend the whole day on the beach if that's what you fancy"

"Okay" Alice said

They had been walking for a little while but suddenly Alice realised she was desperate for the toilet, however she didn't want to say in front of anyone, so just tried to hold on.

"Alice why are you walking funny" Ellie asked

"I'm not" Alice said blushing furiously

Rachel glanced at her daughter and saw she was looking really uncomfortable so gathered she needed to go to the loo, so lagged behind a hit with her.

She waited till the others were in front before whispering to Alice "do you have to go to the loo love"

Alice nodded her head

"Can you hang on till we get home or not"

Alice shook her head because she felt really desperate

"Okay well just nip behind them trees there look" Rachel said pointing

"I can't do that" Alice protested "what if someone sees me"

"There nobody around come in you'll be fine"

"But Ellie and Danny will know"

"Well it's not like there going to care is it"

"But it's embarrassing"

"Well it's not going to be as embarrassing as having an accident in front of everyone is it?" Rachel reasoned

Alice sighed but realised she didn't have any other choice so quickly darted behind one of the trees.

Once she was done she walked back to see her mum and they quickly joined the others.

"Mum what's for tea?" Ellie asked

Rachel stared at her daughter in disbelief, she really didn't know how Ellie stayed as slim as she did seem to eat a lot more than everyone else did.

"Ellie your unbelievable, you have just had a plate piled high with just about all the food you could possibly put in your mouth and still you're thinking of tea"

"I get hungry quickly"

"Oh yeah I've noticed" Rachel said laughing

They walked back home and when they got back Ellie and Alice went to there bedrooms.

Rachel sat down and switched the tv on ready to have a nice evening with Danny.

"Rach did you know it's gone 8" Danny said thinking Rachel would probably want to get Alice to bed as he knew Alice got tired quite easily even though she would beg her mum to stay up, and she did have school in the morning

"Oh god I didn't realise I'd better put Alice to bed"

Rachel sighed before going upstairs, she found both Ellie and Alice in the tv room together. Rachel smiled when she saw the two of them, she always did like to see her two children getting on well together.

"Alice come on it's bedtime" Rachel said

"Oh but..."

"No buts come on" Rachel said not wanting a big argument

With a little bit more moaning Alice did eventually get up and follow her mum out

"I need a bath before I go to bed though"

Rachel sighed really wanting to just get Alice to bed so she could relax for the evening

"Darling can you not just have one in the morning"

"No because you never have time before school even if you promise to give me one" Alice said

It was true Rachel often did just say she'd give her a bath first thing in the morning, but would never really have the time or energy to first thing as she would be so busy getting ready for work.

"Okay okay, ill give you one now but no messing round, just straight in, quick wash then back out"

Rachel then went into the bathroom and quickly ran Alice a bath, before getting her in.

"Mummy"

"Yes love"

"I feel a bit sick" Alice said

"Oh do you? When did that come on love"

"A few minutes ago" Alice told her

"Well just take it easy yeah, I'll get some calpol after your bang and the straight to bed no messing round with all your toys like usual"

"Okay mum"

Rachel quickly finished bathing Alice before getting her into her pyjamas and making sure she brushed her teeth. She then dried off Alice's hair.

"Come on then let's get you that calpol"

Alice went down with Rachel but by now she was feeling quite unwell so just wanted to get to bed.

Once Alice had her medicine she was about to go back up but Danny stopped her.

"Hey don't I get a goodnight kiss from you"

Danny bent down so Alice kissed him on the cheek and said goodnight but then Rachel took her upstairs.

"Night sweetheart, i hope your feeling better in the morning"

"I don't want to sleep on my own mummy, I want to go in with you and Danny"

Rachel sighed over the last few nights Alice had been sleeping on her own, without any real issues so she didn't want to break the habit now.

"No love you stay in your own bed, you've got loads of room in here and all your cuddly toys, so they'll keep you nice and safe"

Rachel could see how worried Alice was getting so decided to sit down on her bed beside her.

"You know love, when I was a little girl like you, I couldn't sleep on my own not for one night, but the thing is my parents never tried to stop me coming in with them so it just got worse and worse and when I was about 8 or 9 and went to sleepovers or whatever I used to be terrified about not having my mum there, I'd often get myself so worked up i'd finish up coming home before it was time for us to go to sleep"

"Really" Alice said feeling quite worried now as she didn't want this to happen to her, when she was older and started going to sleepovers.

"Oh yeah you ask your grandma next time you see her"

"I think I can sleep in my own" Alice Said

"Well that's very brave of you love"

"Night mum love you"

"Night, night darling, I hope your feeling better by morning just think last day of school before a nice long summer holiday, love you lots"

Rachel then gave Alice a kiss goodnight before going downstairs

She sat with Danny for a few hours before going to bed themselves.

It was really early the next morning, but Rachel woke up because she'd heard one of the girls rushing to the toilet, Rachel was normally quite a heavy sleeper but last night she hadn't had a good nights sleep at all so kept waking up to anything.

Rachel got out of her nice warm bed and walked across the landing to the bathroom

"Who's in there?" Rachel asked

"Mum I don't feel well" Alice sobbed

"Can I come in darling?"

"Yeah"

Rachel opened the door and saw Alice sat against the bath crying

"Do you feel sick"

"I've already been sick"

"What while you were on bed or did you make it to the toilet"

"I got to the toilet" Alice cried

"Good girl Alice, you know I don't really do sick especially not at 5:30 in the morning"

"I still don't feel well though"

"Come in with me for a bit love, looks like your going to be missing your last day of school"

"But I don't want to" Alice cried "it's really fun we're allowed to watch films all day and play games and ..."

"Yeah I know love but I don't think anyone would appreciate me sending you to school and you throwing up everywhere would they huh?"

"No"

Rachel then lifted Alice up and carried her back through to there bedroom where she quickly went to sleep.

They woke up an hour or so later but Danny had already gone to work so it was just Alice and Rachel in bed.

"Morning darling how are you feeling?"

"Still not well"

"Oh dear, I don't know what we're going to do with you today"

"Can't I go in with you"

"You could but it would be very, very boring for you and mums got a lot of work to do so If you came up to my office you'd have to be really well behaved"

"Okay" Alice said

"Are you sure you don't want me to make a few calls and find somewhere else for you to go" Rachel asked

"No"

Rachel sighed she could tell having Alice with her was going to make the day a lot more complicated however there wasn't really much else she could do as her parents were on holiday at the moment so wouldn't be able to ask them.

They went through the usual morning rush before eventually going to school

"It's stupid making us come in today" Ellie sighed

"Well there has to be one last day of term Ellie" Rachel said laughing

"Well you could at least let us go home early like we did in my old school"

"Yeah but getting the buses to come for early pick up is more hassle than it's worth trust me I'm speaking from experience"

After a short drive they arrived at school.

Surprisingly the morning did actually seem to pass quite quickly and before Rachel knew it, it was second from last lesson

"You fancy coming for a little walk with me" Rachel asked Alice who seemed to be feeling considerably better now

Alice nodded her head so the two of them got up

"This schools massive"

"It's not so big when you get used to it" Rachel said smiling

"Where are we walking to"

"Just around school, checking everything's running smoothly and no one needs a telling off"

"It was so funny when you told that boy off earlier, the one that got sent to see you"

"Oh yeah, though I don't think my telling off had quite the same impact when you were giggling like anything behind me"

The two of them continued to walk round the school, with Rachel chatting to a few of her pupils and stopping a few girls and telling them that they better have there skirts sorted for next year, until they got to the cooler.

"Oh look Ellie's in there" Alice Said

"Great" Rachel muttered

Rachel sighed before opening the door wondering what Ellie had done

"Hey mum, hi Alice " Ellie said smiling

"I don't know what your looking so cheery about, what are you doing in here young lady" Rachel asked perching on the desk Ellie was sat against. She noticed how relaxed her daughter looked, this was probably because she was the only one in here and there was no teacher on duty so she was free to do what she wanted.

"Oh it was nothing big"

"So what was it"

"We just arrived a bit late back after lunch and that old english teacher caught us and he decided to send me in here because I apparently gave him too much cheek back"

"Was this old teacher mr budgen" Rachel asked

"Yep I think so" Ellie replied

Rachel sighed she knew what Grantly could be like and would often send kids to the cooler for practically anything.

"Right well I want you to go back to your class now and apologise to him"

"But mum ..."

"No but nothing Ellie"

"Fine" Ellie sighed before getting up

The rest of the day passed quite quickly and before long the three of them met at the end of school excited to start what they hoped would be a very nice 6 week holiday.

Please review xxxxxx


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It was the second day of the summer holidays and everyone was enjoying having a lie in, Danny was away with work for a couple of days so it was just Rachel and the girls for now, but it was nice for them to all spend some time together just the three of them, even though Rachel and the girls all loved Danny to pieces it was still important for them to have some time to themselves.

After a very long sleep, Rachel eventually opened her eyes and saw the time was 9, for a second she forgot it was the school holidays and thought she'd just ridiculously overslept so immediately went into full blown panic mode, however then she remembered she had a whole 6 weeks ahead of her.

Rachel got out of bed and threw back the curtains and realised it was her another boiling hot day. She decided to put her summer dress on, as she always seemed to get a lovely tan with that on as it was strapless so she didn't get an tan lines.

Once Rachel had finished getting ready she decided to go and check up on the girls, just to see if they were starting to wake up yet.

Rachel went into Alice's room first thinking she'd be much more likely to be awake than her sister would be, however when she reached Alice's room she saw she wasn't in there.

At first Rachel thought Alice had just got up and rushed straight off to the toilet, like she normally did first thing in a morning, but she saw none of the upstairs bathroom doors were closed.

"Alice" Rachel shouted beginning to get just a tiny bit worried.

It was then that Rachel saw the door to the upstairs tv room was closed, so went over and opened it.

When Rachel opened it she saw her youngest daughter curled up in the sofa with the thin blanket wrapped round her. Rachel couldn't help but smile at the sight of her; she did look very relaxed

, however Rachel wondered why on earth she'd finished up in here.

After a couple of minutes Alice began to stir and eventually opened her eyes and saw her mother standing over her.

"Morning" Alice said sleepily

"Oh good morning Alice" Rachel said before sitting down on the sofa next to Alice "now would you care to explain to me why you finished up sleeping in here when you should have been tucked up in bed"

"Yes but I really need a wee first"

"Okay well you go to the loo, then come back in here with me"

Alice quickly dashed off to the toilet.

A few minutes later Alice came back and sat down with her mum.

"Right so what were you doing in here then" Rachel asked it wasn't that she was cross or anything she was just rather intrigued as to why her daughter had slept on the sofa

"Well I wanted to watch tv after you put me to bed but I couldn't go down because you'd send me back up so I snuck in here but then I got tired so turned the tv off, and I just laid down for a bit I was going to go back to bed mum honest but I must have just fell asleep"

"Absolutely unacceptable young lady" Rachel said trying her best to sound and look stern but she couldn't keep it up and finished up laughing "no I'm only joking love, just not too many late night tv sessions yeah, I know what your like when you're tired"

"I promise i won't do it again"

"Good girl" Rachel said before ruffling her daughters hair playfully "honestly what are you like?"

Alice smiled before going over and sitting on her mums knee, she always did love to have a cuddle with her first thing on a morning

"Now what do you fancy doing today"

"Can we put the paddling pool in the garden"

"Yeah if you want though are you sure you don't fancy going out for the day"

"No it's fin going out in the garden"

"Okay love if you're sure that's what you fancy, I'll get it up soon, give me 2 minutes I'm just going to wake your sister up"

Alice then jumped off her mums knee so Rachel went into Ellie's room.

Much to her surprise she found Ellie already up and nearly dressed

"Oh hello I thought I was going to have to drag you out of bed kicking and screaming this morning" Rachel said causing Ellie to laugh

"Mum could I go out today please" Ellie asked

"Yeah darling that's no problem, where are you thinking of going"

"Just into town with a few friends" Ellie told her mum hoping she wouldn't ask too many questions

"Okay el, I'll drop you off later, what time?"

"About 2ish"

"Yep that's fine with me, so what friends are you going with?" Rachel asked, she didn't mean to pry but she was just interested that's all, she knew that Ellie had made quite a lot of new friends at waterloo road so was wondering if she was going out with them or with her old friends.

"It's nine of your business" Ellie suddenly snapped, she hadn't meant to not really, it had just come out.

Rachel was a bit taken aback, she hadn't expected Ellie to snap like that, after all it was quite rare that she snapped at her mum now.

Rachel was about to say something but then Ellie said "sorry"

"I was just asking that's all Ellie"

"I know I'm sorry for snapping"

"Okay" Rachel said "come on you're dressed now so you can come and give me a hand getting the paddling pool out for Alice"

Ellie sighed but decided to help her mum, but she wasn't particularly looking forward to it as the paddling pool was a real pain to get up.

The two of them searched the garage trying to find it but didn't have any luck, so decided to try the shed and after a quick look round they eventually found it.

"Mum my stomach hurts" Ellie sad, her stomach had been hurting all last night but she hadn't bothered saying anything as she was sure it would be gone by in the morning

"Does it? When did that start"

"Last night"

"Well I'll get you a painkiller when we get back in and drink plenty of water, it'll probably be the heat making you feel unwell"

"Yeah probably"

Ellie thought this sounded reasonable as she had spent practically her whole day at the beach sunbathing and had finished up feeling a bit sick and dehydrated.

The two of them were outside for about half an hour and after what seemed like an eternity managed to get it up, so started to fill it up.

"Come on let's go inside, I think a good breakfast is definitely deserved after that, bacon sandwiches are coming straight up."

Ellie smiled before going inside

"Oh I was going to get you a paracetamol wasn't i"

Rachel had a look through her medicine cupboard and found them starlight away so gave Ellie two.

"Thanks" Ellie said after she'd taken them

Suddenly Alice came running down the stairs and when Rachel saw her she realised she was already in her swimming costume.

Rachel laughed before picking her up

"Now before you go outside are you going to have some breakfast"

Alice nodded her head in response because although she was desperate to get outside she did feel quite hungry too.

"And I need to out your sun cream on"

"Oh but mummy i don't like that suncream it doesn't rub in properly"

"No I've got a different one now, you just spray it on"

"Okay" Alice sighed

Rachel reached in her cupboard and started spraying Alice

Once she'd done her arms, legs and face she said "right pull this down so I can do the rest of you".

"But then I won't have any clothes on"

"It's only me and Ellie love" Rachel said laughing

"Okay" Alice sighed before taking off her swimming costume so her mum could rub her sun cream in.

"Right now it's your turn" she said to Ellie

"I'm alright thanks" Ellie said quickly before immediately attempting to rush off

"Woah not so fast you've got a choice you can either go out and put suncream on or you're going to have to stay in"

"Fine" Ellie sighed "but I can put it on myself"

"Okay" Rachel said before handing her the bottle

Ellie then went upstairs and closed her bedroom door behind her so started putting a tiny bit of cream on just to keep her mum happy.

Rachel waited a few minutes but when Ellie didn't come down she decided to go up and get the suncream off her as she needed it herself.

Rachel knocked once but didn't bother waiting for a reply so just barged in, however she was shocked when she saw her daughter rubbing baby oil all over herself.

"Oi out that down right now, what have I told you before about it" Rachel said

"For gods sake mum I just want to tan"

"Well coating yourself in this stuff isn't the right way to go about it, do you want to get skin cancer when you're older"

Much to Rachel's annoyance Ellie then started giggling

"You sound like grandma"

"I don't care who I sound like,pass me that bottle right now"

Reluctantly Ellie handed her mum the big bottle of baby oil

"I bet you use It for yourself now"

"No because funnily enough I don't want to have horrible skin by the time I'm 50"

"When can I have it back?"

"Never I'm confiscating it" Rachel said

"That's so not fair mum" Ellie sighed "it makes my skin feel all soft"

"I don't care, I've told you so many times about using it to go in the sun with but you never listen, honestly Ellie all this stuff does is fry your skin"

"Okay okay I get the point"

"Good"

Ellie rolled her eyes before putting her sun glasses on and taking the book she was reading to go and sunbathe with.

Rachel did the same thing, so went out and joined her daughter while Alice played in the paddling pool.

"Mum it's not fair you go brown so easily"

"Well so do you, you got a lovely tan last time we went abroad and that was without using that bloody baby oil"

"yeah but it takes a while"

"Well you know what they say, the best things in life are worth waiting for" Rachel said causing Ellie to laugh

The two of them sat out for ages, it was so nice for them to relax just the two of them.

However after an hour or so Alice started to get a bit shivery after being in the water so long, so Rachel decided to dry her off and bring the two girls in for a bit as she could see they were both starting to burn.

The three of them all did there own thing for a little while but then Rachel decided it was time for lunch so made some sandwiches and called them both through.

"Mum can I just eat it in my room please" Ellie asked

"No you can sit with us please"

Ellie sighed but sat down anyway, however she got her phone out straight away

Rachel ignored it for a while thinking she would just be replying to one text and then putting it down however after a while she got sick of the sound of all the messages coming through.

"Ellie put that away you know I don't like it at the table"

Again Ellie sighed but did as her mum told hero

"Who's messaging you anyway, they seem keen"

"Mum can you just leave it" Ellie snapped

"Okay, okay I was only asking" Rachel said

Rachel noticed Ellie was getting quite snappy about little things today, but decided to put it down to her just not being in the best of moods.

"By the way, Harry said he wants to meet early in town, so are you okay to drop me off straight after lunch"

"Harry?" Rachel said, she was surprised when she heard her daughter day this as she had just automatically presumed she'd be going into town with some of the girls.

"Yeah why"

"I just thought you'd be going out with the girls thats all I didn't realise it was boys"

"Why am I not allowed to have boys as friends or something"

Rachel sighed beginning to get a bit fed up of Ellie taking everything to offence and snapping, she just wanted a nice peaceful lunch.

"Did I at one point In The conversation say that"

"No but you acted all surprised and that normally means a big lectures coming"

"Oh Ellie stop it, you're just being silly now, You know I don't mind you having boys as friends it's just you never said"

"I never said I was going with girls either" Ellie said

Rachel rolled her eyes but decided not to say anything else as when Ellie was like this she would just keep snapping and this would normally lead to a big argument, which today she really didn't have the energy for.

"Anyway it's not just boys going there'd girls too, there's a big group of us"

"Well just make sure you behave yourself okay, I don't know if I like the sound of a big group of you all going round town" Rachel said.

Rachel had worked with teenagers long enough to know that when they were all together in big groups it could sometimes end rather nastily.

"Why"

"Well because sometimes groups of teenagers can be pretty intimidating to people"

"Well I'm not a teenager yet so it's all good" Ellie replied cheekily

"Hey mind your tone okay, I don't know why you're in a mood but you're still going to show,some basic respect around the house okay"

Ellie was going to continue the argument however then she decided it really wasn't worth it.

"Okay sorry" Ellie sighed

"Right finish your lunch then go and get a bag and we'll head off"

"I need to,get changed first"

"Why on earth do you need to get changed Ellie, you're absolutely fine as you are"

Ellie didn't say anything just rolled her eyes and got up from the table to go upstairs

"Mummy can we go to the cinema while Ellie's in town" Alice asked hopefully

"Why do you want to go to the cinema on a gorgeous day like today" Rachel said, the last thing she wanted to do today was be sat in a stuffy cinema

"Because Millie and her mum are going down so she wanted us to go with them, she asked me yesterday to ask you but I forgot to tell you."

"Well do you even know what time there going at"

"Yes at 1:30"

"Okay then if you really want, I was thinking earlier we should all go out tonight the three of us"

Alice like the sound of this, she always did like going out with her mum and sister.

"Yeah can we go to Pizza Hut"

"Sure" Rachel replied

The two of them talked for a bit longer but then Rachel heard Ellie come downstairs so quickly tidied up after lunch.

She was about to grab her car keys but then noticed what Ellie was wearing.

"You are not going out dressed like that" Rachel said instantly

Ellie was wearing her extremely short denim shorts and strapless crop top that only just covered her chest.

"What's wrong with it"

"What's right with it?" Rachel sighed

"All the other girls dress like this" Ellie retaliated "do you want me to look like the little freak"

"Right so all the other girls parents let them go out with shorts half way up there bum, and a top that barely covers there boobs do they? Honestly Ellie you may as well just go out in your bra and knickers"

"Why do you always have to be having a go at me"

"I'm not having a go, I just don't want you attracting the complete wrong sort of attention"

Tears began to form in Ellie's eyes, she hated it when her mum shouted at her, especially when most of what she was saying was actually true.

Ellie didn't say anything else but just ran upstairs

Rachel watched as she went past wondering what had happened to make her so sensitive today.

She left it a few minutes before going up after her.

"Ellie is it okay if I come in, I just want a couple of words"

Ellie sighed but agreed to let her mum come in.

When Rachel walked in she saw that Ellie had changed again into a longer pair of shorts and a longer crop top, it was still a little too showy for Rachel's liking however she decided not to say anything not wanting another confrontation.

"What do you want mum" Ellie asked

"What's up with you"

"Nothing I just want to get going"

"Are you sure you've been snappy all day"

"Yeah I'm sure"

"Okay then let's get going" Rachel said

Ellie went downstairs with her mum and the three of them started putting there shows on.

"You look nice by the way el" Rachel said

"Thanks"

They then all got in the car and within 15 minutes they were in town so Rachel quickly dropped Ellie off and then rushed to the cinema with Alice.

Once they were inside it didn't take them long to spot Millie and her mum Angela

Rachel and Angela had been friends for ages so which was partly why Alice and Millie were so close, so they were always grateful of any chance they got to meet up.

"Hey rach"

"Hiya, how are things"

"Okay thanks though they'll be a lot better when we go for that drink you promised me weeks ago" Angela joked

"Coming up I promise I'll tell you what Danny's back on Monday so if you want we can go out then, he'll be fine to look after the girls"

"It's a date" Angela said laughing

They then went and paid and tried to find where there film was showing

"Rach thought I'd warn you the film looks a complete load of crap" Angela whispered to Rachel as soon as the girls were out of earshot

"Thanks for telling me" Rachel said laughing

Eventually they found there film and got say down

When they were just 10 minutes into the film Rachel realised what Angela said was true it was appallingly bad !

Rachel decided to close her eyes for a few seconds as she was feeling very sleepy, however after just a little while she fell asleep, much to the amusement of Angela who was sat next to her luckily no body was sat next to them so no one else saw her and the girls were too engrossed in the film to notice.

About half an hour passed and Rachel was still fast asleep however was suddenly awoken by Alice tapping her.

"Yeah" Rachel replied sleepily

"Were you asleep mummy"

"No I was just resting my eyes for a few seconds that's all, anyway what is it"

"I need a wee"

"Okay let's go, Millie do you need to go too?" Rachel asked

Millie nodded her head so Rachel took them both

The three of them went to the toilet and when Rachel got out she started to redo her mascara as it had smudged a little when she had her eyes closed.

"Do you like the film Rachel" Millie asked once she'd washed her hands

"Urn yeah it's great" Rachel lied

They were about to head back when Rachel heard her phone ringing

"Wait here girls while I get this"

"But then we'll miss the film" Alice moaned

"I won't be long" Rachel said before picking up "help"

"Hi is this Rachel"

"Er yes it is who's calling please?" Rachel asked

"It's joes mum we've bit Ellie round at ours is there any chance you could pick her up, we would drop her off at yours but she won't give us your address, I only just managed to get your number off her"

Rachel was confused at this, she wondered what her daughter was doing round at joes house, but presumed they all must have gone there after shopping but she also wondered why Ellie wouldn't give her number.

"Yes of course I'll pick her up, I'm just at the cinema with my youngest daughter, is there any chance she can stay till we get back or if not get a taxi or something"

"We need you to come now"

"What's happened?" Rachel asked bewildered

"There's been a bit of an incident look it's hard to explain over the phone"

"Okay well I'll come for her now" Rachel sighed wondering what on earth had happened "what's you're agreed.

She wrote down her address and then Rachel quickly rushed back to the cinema and told Angela what happened, before dashing off with a rather confused Alice .

"Mummy where are we going now" Alice asked

"We need to go and pick Ellie up love" Rachel told her

"Oh but the film was so good and now I went know what happens"

"Well I'll take you again sometime" Rachel said praying Alice would forget about it as she was not planning on sitting through it again.

They went to the car and Rachel out the address she'd written down into her sat nav and started driving off

After what seemed like forever they managed to find it and Rachel quickly went to the door with Alice beside her.

A minute or so later joes mum came to the door

"Please don't tell her" Rachel heard Ellie shouting in the background

"Rachel come in" she said

Feeling a little nervous, Rachel stepped inside and took her shoes off before going through to the kitchen.

Rachel saw Ellie was already in there so went over to her.

"What's going on Ellie" Rachel asked however she wasn't sure she really wanted the answer.

Ellie was in tears leaning against the side so Rachel knew whatever this was it must be pretty serious.

"Ellie are you going to explain to your mum what's happened or am I?"

"You can't tell her, please don't" Ellie begged

"What the hells happened" Rachel asked feeling completely baffled by all this.

"A massive group of them were found in the woods earlier, by the police, it seems there's been quite a bit of trouble, and they'd caused a lot of disruption, they'd been stealing bikes from the park, vandalising the back of the supermarket and well just generally being an absolute nightmare, they were also some reports of them smoking and drinking but I don't think your Ellie was involved in that"

"Ellie please tell me not one word of that's true" Rachel said her voice trembling slightly

Ellie's eyes were fixated on the ground, not wanting to face her mum.

For a moment Rachel forgot where she was and was about to start screaming at Ellie, however she then remember she was in somebody else's house, so managed to refrain herself.

"Thanks for keeping her here till I got here" Rachel said trying her hardest to remain calm, at least till they were outside.

"Well I just wanted to let you know, I'm absolutely furious with joe and I would have wanted someone to let me know, if one of the other mums hadn't have told me"

"Well thankyou" Rachel said before turning to Ellie "come on you"

Feeling a little sick with fear, Ellie followed her mum out

Once Rachel had closed the door she felt like she could let more of her anger towards her daughter out.

"Get in the car" Rachel said icily

Ellie ran over to the car and as soon as her mum opened it jumped in.

By the time Rachel and Alice had got in, ellie was in floods of tears, however at this moment in time, Rachel didn't feel the least bit sorry for her.

"Oh you know what Ellie, pack it in with the crying it's not going to get you anywhere, not this time" Rachel shouted

"Mum you don't understand ..." Ellie cried

"Oh I understand Ellie, I understand perfectly that you went behind my back, lied to me, you know what's really upsetting ... Just as I thought we were getting somewhere, that you'd out all the crap behind us, that you were finally on the road to making something of yourself you go she'd and do this"

Ellie continued to cry, not knowing how to defend herself but desperately wanting to.

"God I wonder where the hell, I went wrong with you"

"Mum I'm sorry" Ellie sobbed

"Don't say you're sorry,mice heard it all before and you know what from experience I know you don't mean one single word of it"

Ellie didn't say anything else just stared out the window as Rachel continued to shout however she was trying her best to block it out.

Eventually they ran home, Rachel unlocked the door so the girls ran in and went upstairs.

Rachel went straight into the kitchen and sat down, she hated feeling like this with her daughter but sometimes she really did push her to the edge.

An hour or so passed and Alice suddenly felt really thirsty so went downstairs for a drink, however when she got to the kitchen she saw her mum sat in there and felt scared, she didn't want her to start shouting at her, Alice was about to head back up but Rachel had seem her.

"Alice what you doing"

"I'm sorry i needed a drink but ..." Alice stammered

"Come on, come and get your drink"

Nervously Alice went into the kitchen and poured her drink

"Fancy coming and giving your mum a cuddle, she could really do with one"

Alice went over and sat in her mums knee so Rachel wrapped her Arms around her

"God it's really not fair on you is it?" Rachel sighed

"I don't mind I just want you and Ellie to get on" Alice said but then she started crying, into her mums chest

"Oh darling come on it's alright, look I know me and Ellie had an argument and I'm angry with her but that doesn't mean I'm angry with you love"

"I know I just want you not to shout at her and her to not be bad"

"I know sweetie, I know" Rachel sighed as she continued to hug her daughter

They stayed together for about 5 minutes or so but then Rachel decided it was time to make a start on tea.

"Right I'm going to get tea on now, I know we were meant to be going out but I think it's best if we go a different day maybe tomorrow if things have calmed down"

"Okay but can we have that pasta I like"

"Yeah course we can, I bought the stuff for it yesterday as it happens"

Alice then went into the living room and started watching her favourite tv show.

Rachel then made the tea, and when it was ready got out three plates.

She still felt incredibly angry with her daughter and wasn't about to take the soft approach with her yet, but decided to go up and ask if she wanted tea

"Alice teas ready go and sit at the table please love"

Rachel then went upstairs to Ellie's room, she didn't bother knocking Nd just walked in and saw Ellie crying on her bed, however she tried her best to stop when she saw her mum, knowing when she was this angry it would probably just annoy her even more.

"I've made tea, do you want some or not"

"I don't want any"

"Fine" Rachel replied simply before starting to walk out again

"Mum" Ellie called causing Rachel to turn back round

"You really don't understand what happened" Ellie sobbed

"I think I do Ellie" Rachel said before walking back out

Rachel knew she would have to have a proper talk with Ellie at some point however right now she was too het up to have a sensible conversation and knew they'd both say something they'd regret.

Rachel went back down and had her tea with Alice.

Once they were done Rachel said "right you go and occupy yourself for a while, I'll clean up after tea"

Alice then went and put the tv back on again while Rachel cleared up.

A couple of hours passed and Rachel was sat in the kitchen getting through her bottle of red wine pretty quickly.

suddenly she saw Ellie appear

"Mum I just want to say I really am sorry" Ellie mumbled

"Well try showing it for once"

"I will do honestly I'll do anything I can, what do you want me to do"

Rachel put he head in her hands

"Look right now Ellie I just need some time alone go on ...go back to your bedroom"

More tears fell down Ellie's face but she quickly brushed them away and went back to her room.

Rachel sighed as she saw her go up, if she hadn't had so much wine she might have talked to Ellie but she felt a little drink and her emotions definitely weren't in the right place for a sensible conversation.

It was a while before Rachel noticed it was near 9 o clock and when she did realise it gave her a bit of a shock as it was way past Alice's bedtime.

Rachel jumped up and went into the living room, however when she got there she saw Alice was fast asleep on the sofa sucking her thumb.

Rachel smiled at the sight of her and went over.

She quickly turned the tv off and picked Alice up in her arms so carried her up.

They were about half way up the stairs when Alice opened her eyes Rachel was quite glad when she saw her do this as it would be very hard to get her in her pyjamas while she was asleep.

"Mummy I'm tired"

"I know love, you can go to bed now"

Rachel carried Alice the rest if the way up the stairs but put her down at the top.

Alice quickly took her clothes off and out her pyjamas on, and immediately got into bed.

"Don't you need to make a quick trip to the bathroom first" Rachel reminded her

Reluctantly Alice got up and went to the bathroom.

Alice got her toothbrush and started brushing her teeth.

Ellie was laid in bed, she'd been crying most of the night, she wanted to get her mum to understand what had happened but she didn't seem to be listening to her.

Her stomach was also hurting her quite a lot now, she had ignored it for a while but now it was really sore, so she crept out of bed and went into the bathroom. She got a shock however when she saw her mum and Alice in there while Alice was finishing brushing her teeth.

"I'm sorry ... I just have a bad stomach ache"

"Get a painkiller then"Rachel said still sounding quite cold

Ellie quickly got 2 paracetamols from the little bathroom cupboard

Once she'd taken them she went straight back to bed

"Mummy when are you and Ellie going to make friends" Alice asked after she'd finished in the bathroom and was on her way to her room

"Oh love we'll be fine by tomorrow promise I'm just quite annoyed at her at the moment"

"Do you promise" Alice asked

"Yeah" Rachel said knowing how much Alice would be worrying if she didn't promise this

Alice then got into bed so Rachel tucked her in

"Night sweetheart love you lots"

"Love you" Alice mumbled before giving her mum a big hug

Like always Rachel stayed with her till she fell asleep

Rachel stayed up an hour or so longer but then decided to go to bed, not really knowing what to do with herself without Ellie there to keep her company like she normally did once Alice had gone to bed.

Ellie was trying to get comfy however this was proving really difficult, she couldn't seem to be able to stop thinking about what had happened today and she was worried about her mum being in a mood with her and how she was going to explain everything properly when they did talk about it. Her stomach was also hurting loads and she couldn't really work out why, but thought it might be because she was hungry.

It was about 1 when Ellie eventually dropped off to sleep, however when she was asleep she didn't sleep very well at all and kept waking up.

It was about 7:30 when Ellie woke up properly, however she couldn't get back to sleep so just have up and decided to get up.

Ellie quickly made her bed before going into the bathroom.

While Ellie was on the toilet, she saw blood on her knickers and realised she must have started her periods. She immediately felt really worried as she didn't really know what to do and she wasn't properly expecting it, but she tried to remain calm and began to search round for some pads but couldn't find them anywhere in the bathroom.

Ellie knew that her mum kept them in her bathroom but didn't really want to risk going in there while her mum was in, she knew she would have to tell Rachel at some point but decided to wait a while until she was in a better mood.

She sighed before putting toilet paper round her knickers and hoping it would be enough for now, before going downstairs.

Ellie went into the kitchen and got herself some more paracetamol and a drink of water, however then she saw her mums bag hung up in the utility room, she knew she had some pads in there as she had seen them before when she'd been getting stuff out for her mum while she was driving or something.

Cautiously she took the bag and started rooting round it, eventually she found them so took a couple and was about to put it back when Rachel suddenly appeared downstairs causing her to jump.

Rachel saw her daughter in her bag and immediately jumped to conclusions

"Oh I get it so we've moved on to stealing from me now have we?"

"Mum I wasn't ..."

"Sorry were you or were you not going through my bag without permission"

"No .. Well yeah but I didn't .., I mean I wouldn't take anything ...I had to ..." Ellie stammered

"What did you take, a tenner, twenty, fifty, my whole bloody purse"

"I didn't take anything" Ellie cried

"What so you're still going to stand there and lie to me are you"

"I didn't .."

"I can see you hiding it behind your back" Rachel said

"But mum ..."

"Come on then if you didn't take anything you'll have nothing to hide will you"

Rachel then grabbed Ellie's hand from behind her back, and Ellie unclasped her hand showing her mum the contents, before bursting into tears and running off leaving Rachel feeling terrible

"Ellie" Rachel called sounding genuinely sorry

However Ellie didn't respond and just went to her room crying.

Rachel sighed , really regretting how she'd been handling things with her daughter, although most of the time she was a pretty calm mum who was generally very good at dealing with things, she knew she was guilty of flying off the handle far too easily sometimes and not staying calm when sometimes it was best to, or just stay out of people's way until she felt calm enough not to shout And get too het up over things.

She decided to give Ellie a few minutes before going up.

"Ellie please can I have a couple of words love"

Ellie sighed and opened her door, before sitting back down on her bed

"Mum I'm not up for you shouting at me again, I know I shouldn't have been in your bag okay, I just didn't think"

"Actually I haven't come to shout I came to say I'm really, really sorry"

"I wouldn't ever steal from your bag" Ellie sobbed "I got my period and I needed some pads but I couldn't find any"

"I know Ellie and if I'd have only known that's what you'd taken then ...well I wouldn't have reacted like I did that's for sure"

Ellie began to cry even harder, somehow hearing her mum speaking nicely to her made her fell really emotional

"Oh darling" Rachel sighed wrapping her arms around her daughter and Ellie out her head in her mums chest and cried

"There now you just have a good cry my love"

"Why are you being nice to me, you were furious with me before"

"Yeah and part of me still is about yesterday but I want to get today sorted first which by the way I feel bloody awful about, sweetheart why didn't you just tell me as soon as you realised"

"What while I thought you were about to murder me"

"Fair point" Rachel Said smiling weakly "look are you okay, do you want to have a chat about .. Well what's happening to you and well what to expect and stuff" Rachel asked wanting to show her daughter she was there for her

"Not particularly" Ellie said pulling a face

"I know, I know, talking to your mum about this kind of thing, can be well, can be a bit tricky but I do know how you feel and I was your age once you know"

"I know" Ellie said

"When did you realise anyway"

"First thing this morning, when I went to the toilet" Ellie said

"Well that'd explain your stomach ache yesterday"

"I guess" Ellie said

Rachel decided to leave it at this, she was glad she knew about it but could tell her daughter didn't feel that comfortable talking

"Anyway you know I'm here don't you, of ever you do want a chat or anything"

"Yep"

"And there's more pads in the bathroom okay"

"Okay thanks mum" Ellie said about to get up

"Urm where are you going?"

"Downstairs"

"Unfortunately young lady you don't get off that easily, I do still want to talk about yesterday"

Ellie sighed and sat back down, though she did know her mum wouldn't let her off

"Mum i really don't want to talk about it, can you not just ground me and take my phone or whatever"

"Well no because funnily enough I'm not only interested in punishing you and do actually want to have a talk"

"Okay but can I go to the bathroom first, I didn't get a chance before to you know ... Sort myself"

"Of course you can" Rachel said

Ellie then dashed to her mums bathroom

A few minutes later she came back out and went into her room, where her mum was still sat.

"Right so yesterday I want to know exactly what you were a part of"

"Honestly mum I know you won't believe me but honestly I didn't do anything ... I was just sort of there but i wasn't involved"

"Hang on if you were there you were involved"

"But I didn't do anything bad honest"

Rachel thought for a moment, but decided to believe her daughter

"Okay I believe you" she said simply "but I think that you do have enough common sense to know that being in with people who are interested in getting up to that sort of thing isn't the right thing to be doing"

Ellie was about to respond but suddenly started crying, however this time Rachel really did feel sorry for her.

"Hey now come on, I'm not shouting at you or anything I'm just saying ..."

"I know but I feel so bad"

"But like you said you weren't directly causing harm yourself just around those who were"

"Yeah but I shouldn't have been with them I knew they were trouble I just wanted to fit in" Ellie mumbled "it's hard you know being at your school now and I'm the "headmistress daughter" everyone expects me to be some little freak and I just wanted to show them I'm not" Ellie explained

"Okay but in time they'll learn for themselves your not, by pretending to be something your not fair enough you might not exactly come across as some "little freak" as you put it but there not going to see the real you so you won't be able to relax around them"

Ellie thought about this and realised that actually her mum did have quite a good point

"I get what you mean"

"So how about we put this behind us then for the time being and concentrate on having a good summer"

"Sounds good to me"

"And Ellie I really am sorry about the way I behaved yesterday it wasn't right, I should have listened or at least talked to you"

"It's Okay" Ellie said glad her and Rachel had made up "mum how long am I grounded for"

"Well I would say I punished you enough yesterday by treating you like I did, so I'm not going to ground you love"

"Thanks mum" Ellie said gratefully before putting her arms around her mum"

"Okay, but Ellie promise me something, if you do go out please don't go with that lot again I don't think my neves could stand it"

"I won't" Ellie promised

"Love you sweetheart" Rachel said

"I love you too mum"

So sorry for the lack of updates, I'm on holiday at the moment but was going to update before I went however didn't have time, made this chapter a little longer than normal though to make up for it please review xxxxx


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It was a Monday evening and Danny had just got back from his weekend away with work. Rachel and the girls were really glad to see him again, although they had enjoyed a little bit of time just the three of them, they had missed him as he really did feel like part of the family now.

Rachel was going out with Angela for the drink she'd promised her, so she was leaving Danny in charge. It was weird for Rachel to be going out without the girls, it was quite rare she did, normally if she was meeting up with friends she'd normally have to bring Alice with her room as she was too young to be left on her own.

Rachel was sat in her room, doing her makeup ready for her night out, when suddenly Alice appeared

"Oh hi darling" she said smiling

Alice went over to her mum and sat down on her knee

"Mummy, Ellie won't let me watch tv" Alice moaned "and she was really horrible to me"

Rachel sighed, she knew how sensitive Ellie was at the moment and how emotional she could get, Rachel knew this was probably because of her hormones, especially with starting her period the other day.

"Yeah well, Ellie's probably not feeling her best at the moment love, so just don't take it to heart okay, just don't take any notice, honestly if I got upset every time she's snapped at me I'd be an emotional wreck" Rachel joked causing Alice to giggle.

"Whys she not feeling good though mum, is she poorly" Alice asked not understanding

"Well no not really darling, it's just she's getting older now and sometimes that can make you feel a bit tired out and grumpy"

"But I'm not any more tired or grumpy than I was last year even though I'm older" Alice said

Rachel didn't really know how to explain this to Alice without confusing her, Alice had always been quite curious about things and likes to ask lots of questions.

"Well I suppose it effects you more when your a teenager rather than any other age"

"Oh I hope I'm not all grumpy"

"So do I, I think I'd be moving out if I had two of you to deal with"

Alice sat with her mum for a bit longer, while Rachel continued to do her makeup, but then decided she wanted to go and play for a little while so went off.

Rachel had then finished doing her makeup and put on the dress she was wearing.

A few minutes later Danny came in

"Rachel you look gorgeous" he commented "don't know if I trust you out on the town looking like that, all the other men will be begging for a chance To take my place"

"Well I'll just have to fight them off one by one won't it" Rachel joked "and anyway you don't have time to be worrying about me tonight you have your babysitting duties to carry out"

"Aw it'll be nice spending time with the two of them" Danny said, and it was true he really was looking forward to it, he loved Rachel's kids a lot and was just as much as a father to them as Chris had been.

Ellie was downstairs watching tv, she'd been feeling really rough over the last few days, she couldn't seem to stop crying over daft things and snapping at everyone. She hated feeling this and couldn't wait to get back to her usual self.

While she was watching tv Ellie's stomach started really hurting again, so she decided to go upstairs and get some paracetamol.

She was just outside her mums room, when she heard her and Danny talking.

"Rach, I was going to ask you earlier but I forgot, is Ellie okay at the moment, she seems a bit down" Ellie heard Danny say

"Oh don't worry about her, she's fine, just quite sensitive at the moment that's all"

"Why has something happened"

Ellie held her breath praying her mum wouldn't say because she had promised she wouldn't tell anyone.

"Look don't say anything to her because I think she's feeling a bit embarrassed about it, but she got her first period the other day and I don't think she's coping particularly well with it"

Ellie couldn't believe her mum had told Danny after she specifically asked her not to, she thought she could always trust her mum to keep things to herself but obviously not.

She was about to go in and confront her mum straight away, however decided that would be too embarrassing in front of Danny.

A few minutes later Rachel had finished getting ready, but still had about half an hour before she was due to go out, so decided to go and watch a bit of tv with Alice

Rachel was about half way down the stairs when suddenly she saw Ellie at the top.

"Mum, can I talk to you?" Ellie asked

"Yeah" Rachel replied, wondering what this was about, however the angry expression on Ellie's face told Rachel her daughter wasn't very happy "what is it"

"No I mean in private" Ellie said "not that you seem to know the meaning of the word"

"What" Rachel asked not understanding what Ellie was saying

"Oh just come up to my room"

Rachel sighed and followed Ellie up, they got to her bedroom and them Ellie closed the door behind her

"So what is it"

"You told Danny"

"Told Danny what"

" don't pretend you don't know I heard you, I can't believe you told him, I thought I could trust you to just keep it between me and you" Ellie said tears beginning to form in her eyes but she quickly tried to brush them away

"Oh Ellie, I'm so sorry" Rachel sighed "I know I shouldn't have and it was wrong of me, but I just throughout it was best he knew, so he understood why you were feeling so emotional, all the time"

"But the point is I asked you not to tell anyone, what else have you told him? All those times I've told you things I thought you could keep to yourself and were private did you run straight to Danny and tell him all about it"

"No Ellie I promise, look sweetheart I'm really sorry I told him but he was bound to find out sooner or later"

"But now it'll be so embarrassing in front of him" Ellie sighed

"No it won't, I don't know how much of our conversation you heard, but i did specifically tell him not to say anything to you about it, because I know how much it would upset you"

"Okay, but I still wish he didn't know"

"I know, and I really am sorry"

Ellie sighed she knew her mum wouldn't have meant to embarrass her and probably didn't think.

"Fine just in future don't tell him stuff about me again"

"I won't I promise" Rachel said smiling slightly now

The two of them chatted for a bit longer before Rachel went downstairs for a bit and watched some tv with Alice until it was time for her to go.

"Now you two Danny is in charge so I want you to do exactly as he says okay? And i will hear about it, if you've been doing anything other than that and I won't be very happy" Rachel warned,

she was pretty sure both girls would be fine but she just wanted to make sure they weren't planning on acting up at all, as Danny could be quite a pushover and a lot softer than she was so it would be easy for them both to get away with a lot.

"Mummy I don't want you to go" Alice mumbled

"Love I'll only be out a few hours, you'll see me first thing in the morning"

"Hey I'm not so bad for one night am I?" Danny said to Alice before scooping her up in his arms causing her to giggle

"Right I'll be off now, but remember what I said girls and Danny make sure Alice is bathed and in bed by no later than 8"

"Okay you have a good night darling, don't worry about the girls we'll be fine"

"We'll see you all later then, be good girls"

Rachel then opened the front door and walked out, still feeling a little worried about leaving the girls.

"Right girls you fancy putting a movie on or something"

"Yes please, can we watch the new one we bought" Alice begged

The three of them then went into the living room and Danny put it on so they all got comfy on the sofa.

They were about half way through and for some reason Alice felt herself getting a bit upset, she remembered doing this with her daddy whenever her mum would go out and have a night out with her friends or go and visit her sister, and this made her start to remember more things they used to do together.

"Alice it's time for your bath now" Danny said at the end of the movie

"No I don't want to" Alice said adamantly, somehow remembering her dad and thinking of all the things they used to do made her feel like she wanted to show Danny that he wasn't her real dad.

"Come on you heard what your mum said" Danny said gently

"I said no" Alice shouted

"Alice I need to get you in the bath now, it's already 8:30 and I promised your mum I'd have you in bed by 8"

"You can't tell me what to do" Alice screamed "you're not my daddy"

Ellie sighed, she knew what her sister could be like when she was feeling tired and would often by very stubborn and would be quick to argue. Rachel could normally settle her down quite quickly but most other people found it quite hard to.

"Alice do as Danny said"

"I don't want to go in the bath"

Ellie rolled her eyes, her sister really could be annoying when she would start making a fuss over the daftest of things

"Well how about if I give you your bath and I'll get that special bubble bath and foam stuff mum gets you out"

"Fine but I'm not getting bathed by him" Alice said looking at Danny

"Hey don't talk to me like that" Danny said calmly though he was already feeling quite stressed as he wanted to tell Rachel everything had gone smoothly as he knew how important her girls were to her and wanted to show how much he cared for them but this was going to be difficult to do if Alice kept this up

"Shut up, shut up, shut up" Alice shouted, she didn't really know why she was saying all this but she just felt like making things as difficult as she could for Danny so she could show him, he wasn't as good as her dad was when he was alive

"Alice what would mum say if she heard you talk like that, you know she wouldn't be very pleased" Ellie said "and you heard what she said earlier, she wants to know if either of us don't do what Danny says"

"I don't care" Alice said, though in reality the one person she really hated being in trouble with, was her mum, it wasn't as though Rachel was particularly scary if she told Alice off it's just normally she was so nice to her so Alice would always get a real shock if ever she did shout.

"Come on Alice you're not a baby, be a good girl for me" Danny half pleaded

Alice continued to argue for a while but eventually Ellie managed to get her upstairs and started running her bath.

Danny followed her up but felt a bit useless as Ellie was doing all the work.

"Alice get in" Ellie ordered

"No not while Danny's there"

"Why"

"Because I don't want him seeing me in the bath"

"But he comes in all the time when mum baths you and you're only 6 years old for gods sake" Ellie snapped getting fed up of her little sisters mood, although she was extremely cute and most of the time fairly well behaved, she could also be very naughty at times.

"It's fine I'll go" Danny said before going out the bathroom

Ellie managed to give her sister a very quick bath before getting her out and wrapping a towel around her, the bathroom was half flooded as Alice had insisted on splashing everywhere as much as she possibly could

After a lot of fuss, Ellie then dried Alice's hair and got her into her pyjamas

"Right come on you bed" Danny said

"No I'm staying up till mummy gets in only she's allowed to put me to bed"

"Alice bed right now" Danny said trying his best to sound authoritative

"You can't make me"

"Alice go to bed" Ellie said stepping in again "if you don't I'll take some of your toys off you" Ellie threatened, knowing this was something her mum did with Alice if ever she was in trouble.

After a lot more stomping and shouting Alice eventually went to bed.

After a little while Ellie and Danny both went downstairs

"Ellie thankyou so much for helping out, I don't know what I'd have done without you, you're a star and I'll make sure your mum knows that"

Ellie blushed slightly but secretly she was thrilled Danny had said this as it made her feel quite important "oh it was nothing, Alice might look sweet as anything, but she can be a monster at times, just ask my mum"

"Well thanks a lot, and I really mean that" Danny said

"It's fine honestly"

The two of them then went and sat down and started watching tv, it was nice for them to have some times together and it wasn't awkward at all, they always got on really well.

About 15 minutes passed when Danny suddenly remembered something

"Oh god I completely forgot to get Alice to brush her teeth and go to the toilet"

"She'll be fine for one night, when she's in one of her moods she wouldn't have done anyway"

"Yeah but ..."

"Honestly Danny she'll be fine" Ellie reassured him "I'll just tell mum to get her to brush her teeth extra well in the morning and she'll wake up if she needs a wee"

"You're like a little mum tonight Ellie" Danny joked however it was true Ellie really was being incredibly helpful

They watched for a bit longer when suddenly they heard something coming from upstairs and then heard something falling down the stairs

They immediately both jumped up, thinking Alice may have fallen down or something

However when they got to the bottom of the stairs they saw her throwing loads of her toys down

"What in gods name do you think you are doing" Danny shouted

"Playing a game"

"It's 9:30 your mum will be back about 10 get to bed right now"

"I'm playing a game" Alice shouted

"Oh no your not bed right now and if I hear another peep out of you they'll be real trouble do you understand"

Alice was about to argue back but the look on Danny's face was enough to make her go back to bed despite how she was feeling.

Another half hour or so had passed and Alice had got out of bed two more times to start playing games with her toys and both Danny and Ellie felt exhausted.

Danny had literally just got downstairs after shouting at Alice to get back to bed when the front door opened and Rachel walked in.

Rachel had actually had a really good night and was in a really good mood, however this was soon to be spoilt!

"Hello mum did you have a good night"

"Yeah really good thanks love" Rachel said smiling however then she saw how exhausted the two of them looked "blimey you two look like you've had a rough night, how's everything been?"

"Not too great to be honest darling" Danny admitted

"Why what's happened? Ellie you better not have been giving Danny any grief" Rachel sighed

"I haven't, it's Alice she's been acting like some demented kid all night"

"What's she done?" Rachel asked

Danny then filled her in on everything that had been going on and by the end of it, it was fair to say Rachel was more than a little annoyed

"God I'm so sorry about all of this love" Rachel said feeling genuinely awful "did you say it was only a couple of minutes since you were last with her"

"Yeah"

"Right wait till I get my hands in her" Rachel said sounding quite determined

She then left Danny and Ellie, and went straight upstairs to Alice's room, ready to have some serious words with her daughter

"Danny you can't come in here" Alice screamed as soon as she saw her door open

Suddenly much to her horror Alice realised it was her mum stood at the door and she saw how angry she looked

"Actually it's not Danny, it's me and I am not know bit pleased young lady, if even a fraction of what I've been hearing about your behaviour tonight is true Alice then you are in serious trouble"

Alice didn't say anything but she began to feel quite upset and scared now because she could see how angry her mum was

"How dare you behave like this for Danny, he was doing me a huge favour looking after you and Ellie tonight and do you think after everything that's gone on tonight he'll want to do it again"

Alice shook her head in response not knowing what else to do

"Look at me when I'm talking to you" Rachel said firmly causing Alice to lift her head up.

"Mummy I'm sorry" Alice said beginning to cry

"Oh it's not me you need to say you're sorry to, it's Danny but if I were him I wouldn't accept your apology in a hurry not after everything you've been doing"

Hearing her mum speaking so harshly to her made Alice cry harder, but Rachel wasn't going to just let her off now she'd turned the waterworks on!

"Right seeing as you clearly can't be trusted to behave and be sensible in your own bedroom you can sleep in the spare bedroom tonight, where there's no toys or anything to do at all except go to sleep and when you next come into your room expect a lot of your toys to be gone until you've shown me your truly sorry"

"Okay mummy" Alice sobbed feeling really bad, Alice hated it in the spare room as it was always so dark and scary but she could tell her mum wasn't in the mood for negotiation

Rachel watched as Alice shuffled out of her own bed and made her way to the spare room, Rachel had quite a lot of spare rooms in her house but most of them were on the second floor and didn't have any sheets on the bed as Rachel only ever made them up if people were stopping, however she always kept the one on the first floor looking nice.

Rachel stayed while Alice got into bed, as she wanted to make sure she didn't dart back to her own room.

"Mummy I really need a wee" Alice soda truthfully however Rachel thought this would just be a ploy to stay up some more

"Well you're old enough now to hold on, so just go to sleep please"

"Mummy I'm desperate" Alice said beginning to cry again

"Alice go to sleep now" Rachel said firmly

"But you know I can't sleep without my night light" Alice cried "I know I've been bad but please let me have it" Alice begged

Rachel thought for a moment but decided to go and get it as she knew it wouldn't be fair of her not to give it as Alice really was terrified of the dark.

When Rachel was getting Alice's light she saw Danny come up

"Hey is Alice settled"

"I wouldn't exactly say that, but I certainly sorted her out she's in the spare room now but I'm getting her light"

"Oh right, look I'm so sorry about all this"

"Don't be daft it's not your fault, I know what she can be like sometimes, look I'll be down soon we'll have a coffee, well if I can ever get her to settle down and go to sleep, she's desperate to stop up as long as she can she keeps saying she needs a wee but I'm sure she's only saying it to stop up"

"No actually she's probably telling the truth, I forgot to make her go before bed"

"Ah okay, well you get that coffee on and I'll be down as soon as she's sorted"

Rachel quickly grabbed Alice's night light and brought it into the spare room where her daughter was sat up in bed crying

"Right go for a quick and I do mean quick wee and then straight to bed"

Alice dashed out of bed clearly very desperate and ran to the bathroom in the spare room before going back to bed and pulling the covers over herself

"We'll talk more in the morning Alice, you're to go straight to sleep now"

Alice didn't dare Argue so closed her eyes

Rachel then left and went downstairs.

Alice tired to go to sleep but couldn't, she was worrying about how angry her mum was with her and she was also thinking about how much she missed her dad, and all this was making her feel really upset.

When Rachel was downstairs she collapsed onto the sofa next to Ellie and Danny

"Ellie's being amazing by the way Rach, don't know what I'd have done without her tonight" Danny said

"Oh that's fantastic love, well done you" Rachel said smiling at Ellie 'anyway darling it's 10:15, do you think it's about time you went to bed now love"

"Yeah I'm tired anyway night mum, night Danny"

"Night Ellie" Danny said

"Night, love you lots"

"Love you too" Ellie said before going to bed

Rachel and Danny stayed up and finished there coffee, before going upstairs.

"Danny I'm just going to check Alice is asleep and not causing any more fuss"

Danny went into there bedroom, whilst Rachel opened the door to the spare room

Once she was in there she saw Alice was asleep, but had already kicked her covers off like she always did.

Rachel sighed before going over and tucking her in properly despite her being asleep. She then bent down and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead, she'd find it so hard to stay angry at Alice for any period of time, even though she'd make it to her daughter that she was still in big trouble.

Rachel then went to bed and quickly fell asleep.

Alice hadn't slept very well at all, she never did whenever she was worried about something.

She woke at about 12 feeling really scared and confused, she started to cry and call out for her dad, she used to do this also the time after he died but over the last few months she'd managed to stop it.

Rachel woke up and heard Alice calling out for her dad.

"Oh no" she sighed before jumping out of bed

"Rach what's wrong, is Alice okay"

"She'll be okay, I'll and calm her down now"

Rachel then immediately ran towards Alice's room but then remembered she'd made her go in the spare room

"Daddy" Alice screamed again as Rachel opened the door

Alice was sat up in bed crying her eyes out, Rachel rushed over and sat down next to her

"Come on darling, it's okay mums here look"

"I want daddy"

"I know sweetheart"

"You're angry with me" Alice sobbed still in a real state

"No love, come on do some deep breathes you know like we used to do when you got all upset"

Alice tried her hardest to get her breathing controlled however she was finding it really difficult

"Right I'm going to nip and get your inhaler okay

Alice had quite bad asthma and it would always be triggered by her getting really upset and worked up.

Rachel rushed into Alice's room and grabbed her inhaler from her drawer, before going back and giving it to Alice

"Nice deep breath" Rachel said "good girl"

Once she'd calmed down a bit Rachel brought Alice into a big cuddle

"Mummy I didn't mean to be bad" Alice sobbed

"It's okay love, you just concentrate on calming yourself down"

after a few minutes Rachel sat Alice down on her lap and after a while she started to relax a bit

"Come on sweetie are you ready to go back to sleep now, you don't have to stay in here not if you don't want, you can go back to your own bedroom, I haven't got round to taking any toys yet so you can pick anyone of your big cuddly toys to give you a nice cuddle"

Alice got up and walked to her bedroom but when she was there she started getting all upset again so Rachel sat her back down in her knees for another cuddle

" Alice was this just a bad dream you woke up from or is there something else I don't know about going on here?" Rachel asked thinking it was unusual for Alice to stay so upset for long after her dreams, normally she would have gone back to sleep after a little cry and a cuddle off Rachel

Alice didn't say anything just buried her head in her mums chest and continued to sob

"Love I want to help okay, but I need you to tell me what's upsetting you this much"

"I miss daddy, and when I woke up I couldn't stop thinking about him and I got really upset" Alice said

"I know how much you miss your dad darling and that's only to be expected"

"No by that's why I was so nasty to Danny earlier" Alice explained "I just thought dad would be really upset if he thought I was being nice to Danny and that I liked Danny more than him and that I wanted him to start being my daddy, so I just wanted to show that he wasn't"

"Oh love" Rachel sighed bringing her into a tighter cuddle

"Now you're to listen to me okay? Nobody is ever, ever going to try and replace your dad and that's Danny included but what Danny does try and do is make you feel happy and you know as well as I do that your daddy, he wanted you and Ellie both to be happy so badly, and I known exactly what he really wouldn't want to see you do is behaving the way you did earlier"

"I'm sorry" Alice cried

"Okay" Rachel said quietly "no more tears, come on, back to sleep now"

"I want to stay with you"

"God you've swapped beds about 10 times tonight, but come on then"

Alice jumped up and walked across the landing

"Mummy is Danny still awake"

"I don't know but I think he will be"

"Will he be angry with me?" Alice asked sounding worried

"Well I think you certainly owe him an apology, but you know what Danny's like soft as anything, I'm sure he'll be fine with you"

Rachel then opened the door to her bedroom and saw Danny was sat up in bed

Alice hid behind her mum feeling a little bit scared after everything that had gone on

"Alice is coming In with us" Rachel said "though I know that won't make you particularly happy after she probably terrified you earlier" she joked

"It's okay,it's all forgotten" Danny said smiling at the little girl, who was still clinging onto Rachel

"Alice have you got something you'd like to say to Danny"

"I'm really, really sorry" Alice mumbled staring at the ground

"It's alright Alice, come into bed"

Alice was glad Danny was being nice to her as she knew she'd been horrible to him earlier

Rachel and Alice both got in and Rachel wrapped her arms round Alice, it didn't take them long for them to fall fast asleep.

Alice woke up quite early the next morning so snuggled into Rachel, who woke up shortly after Alice

"Morning darling"

"Morning mum"

"You look tired love though that's hardly surprising after last night, why don't you go back to sleep for a bit"

"I don't think I can" Alice said "mummy have you taken all my toys off me yet"

"No funnily enough I haven't had the chance quite yet"

"When are you going to"

"Oh I don't know, sometime this morning" Rachel said sleepily though actually she didn't have any intention of taking Alice's toys off her as she knew last night was a one off and it really was completely out of character.

"Where's Danny gone" Alice asked when she noticed he wasn't in bed

"To work darling"

"But it's the school holidays"

"Not for him it isn't I'm afraid"

"But what about when we go to Florida is he going to have to go to work still"

Rachel laughed at this, they were all going to Florida on Saturday night and were getting quite excited about it now

"No love he's got time off work for that"

"Oh"

"Anyway speaking of Florida I think me and you should go swimming today while Ellie's at her friends"

Rachel knew she needed to teach Alice to swim by the time they went to Florida as she didn't want her to miss out on going in the pool, Rachel had tried sending her to swimming lessons, however Alice was petrified of the water and would only ever go in if her mum was there and she had her armbands on but even then she always felt extremely nervous

"No mum I don't want to" Alice said

"Please just give it a try for me love, I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do and I won't push you in or anything like that, just give it a go yeah?"

"Okay" Alice said realising she didn't have any other option but to go along with it

"Good girl" Rachel said kissing the top of her head

Alice stayed in bed for a bit longer but then realised she was desperate for the toilet so jumped up and went to her mums bathroom.

When Alice came out Rachel decided to go for her shower so Alice went back to her own bedroom and started playing with her toys.

Rachel came in about 15 minutes and watched as Alice messed around

"Come on missus come and help me make breakfast"

Alice went downstairs with her mum and helped her make pancakes for everyone

"Right there done so why don't you go and get Ellie up for me"

Alice ran back upstairs and started bouncing on her bed to wake her

"Alice go away" Ellie mumbled still half asleep

"Mums made pancakes"

Ellie sighed realising she wasn't going to get any more sleep now, so dragged herself out of bed before going downstairs

"Hi love come and sit down"

Ellie sat down and started eating straight away

"Mummy I want chocolate sauce on mine" Alice said

Rachel rolled her eyes knowing what a Mess she'd get in, but put some on anyway.

"Mum how come you don't seem even remotely cross with her about last nigh if it had been me you'd have killed me" Ellie said

"Well we had words last night and I think it's safe to say she's learnt her lesson haven't you Alice"

Alice nodded her head in response

"Oh yeah course she has" Ellie said "honestly mum you should have seen her she was like devils child"

Alice started to feel a bit embarrassed and could feel her cheeks flushing

"Yeah alright Ellie, but it's time to move on okay" Rachel said sensing Alice was getting upset again

The morning seemed to pass quite quickly and soon it was time for Rachel to take Ellie to her friends

She quickly drove round and dropped her off

"Have a nice time love" she said "see you around 5 yes?"

"Yeah bye mum, have a nice swim"

Rachel smiled slightly before driving to the swimming pool.

"Come on then Alice let's go"

Alice wished she could just stay in the car but knew it wasn't an option so got out and held her mums hand as they walked in.

Rachel quickly paid for the two of them before going into a changing room with Alice.

Rachel had put her red swimming costume on underneath her clothes so it didn't take her long to get changed.

"Come on Alice get your stuff off" Rachel said when she saw Alice still hadn't taken any if her clothes off

Reluctantly Alice took her top and trousers off so she could get into her swimsuit

Rachel then out the stuff in a locker

"Do you need to go to the toilet before we go in"

"Yes" Alice replied

The two of them then walked to the toilet and went in.

Rachel was out first so washed her hands and looked at herself in the mirror, she always did feel a little anxious when they went swimming because although she actually had a really good figure she had always felt quite body conscious.

A couple of minutes passed and Alice still hadn't come out so Rachel decided to check if she was okay.

"Alice are you okay in there" Rachel asked

"Mummy I don't think we can go swimming"

"Why not?" Rachel said from outside the door

"I really don't feel well. I've got a really poorly tummy"

"Well have you been to the toilet, that might help"

"Yes" Alice lied

Rachel sighed, she was almost certain there was nothing wrong with Alice and she was just saying this to get out of going swimming because Rachel knew how much she hated it however if Alice was telling the truth and she really did have a bad stomach she certainly didn't want to send her in the pool.

"Come out a second love" Rachel said

Alice opens so the door slowly before bursting into tears

"Oh dear not more tears, you must have cried enough to fill this swimming pool over the last few days" Rachel joked causing Alice to smile slightly

"Now are you going to tell me what's got you this upset"

When Alice didn't reply Rachel said "right tell me honestly were you telling the truth when you said you felt poorly"

"No" Alice mumbled

"Okay so I take it this is about not wanting to go in the water then"

Alice nodded her head

"Oh love but I'll be there with you and I won't let anything happen and I'll make absolutely sure you don't go under"

"Do you promise"

"Yes I promise hand on heart and when do I ever break my promises to you"

"Never"

So the two of them went out of the toilet, Rachel could see how terrified Alice was and in some ways she felt awful but she knew it was something she needed to make sure her daughter did.

Once they were in the water, Alice started clinging to Rachel and shaking

"It's alright I've got you darling" Rachel reassured her

"I'm scared I want to get out" Alice said nearly in tears again

"Hey come on you're okay I promise"

Alice was still really scared but her mum take her in but she had her arms wrapped as tightly as she could around her waist

Rachel swam with Alice on her back until they were right in at the shallow end so Alice could stand up.

Once she was stood up Alice begAn to feel a lot more relaxed

They stayed just messing about and splashing each other for a while, till Alice felt a lot more confident

"Right I'm going to support you but I want you to just kick your legs"

It took a good hour or so but eventually Rachel did manage to get Alice swimming even if it was just a few Meters

"Did you see me mum I did it" Alice said sounding thrilled

"Yes I did darling, I'm so so proud of you" Rachel said coming over and wrapping her arms round Alice

Once Alice started swimming she didn't want to stop and in the end Rachel had quite a job on getting her out.

"Mummy I'll be able to go winning with school now and won't have to get you to write me a note out if it" Alice said proudly once they were in the changing room

"I know darling you did so well"

Once they'd both got changed they went into the little cafe and got a drink.

It had been so nice for them to spend some time together just the two of them, Alice always did love having her mum to herself now and then even if it didn't happen very often

Please review xxxxxx


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It was a Friday afternoon and it was only a couple of days before they were due to fly out to Florida, so Rachel and Danny were both trying to get some packing done, Alice was in her bedroom and Ellie was out shopping so this meant they were able to get quite a bit done as the kids were out of the way.

"Right I'm going to start packing some of Alice's stuff" Rachel said to Danny

"But what am I meant to do?" Danny asked causing Rachel to laugh

"You're 36 years old I'm sure you can entertain yourself" she joked

Rachel then got up off her bedroom floor having just finished packing all her toiletries, underwear and swim stuff, she knew she still had a lot to do, but it was a start at least.

She walked across the landing to Alice's room, however she got a shock when she opened her door and saw that Alice was laid fast asleep on her bed despite it only being 4 in the afternoon.

Rachel felt so bad waking her up, as she looked so peaceful but she knew if she didn't get her up now she wouldn't be able to settle her down and get her to sleep later on.

Rachel started to gently stir her awake

"Mummy" Alice said clearly a little bit confused

"Oh hello sleepy head, what were you doing fast asleep at this time"

Rachel knew that Alice got sleepy really easily and would often fall asleep more or less as soon as her head hit the pillow but she never normally fell asleep in the day time

"I feel really tired" Alice said

Rachel looked at Alice closely and saw she did actually have quite dark circles around her eyes and looked a bit pale

"Are you feeling okay love?" Rachel asked feeling a little bit worried about Alice

"I feel a bit dizzy and sick"

"Hmm early to bed I think for you tonight" Rachel said "now I'm starting to pack for Florida so do you fancy giving me a hand"

All Alice really wanted to do is stay in bed but she knew her mum wouldn't let her to do this, so reluctantly she dragged herself up.

"Now I'm going to pack a load of your tops but can you do me a favour and get about 8 or 9 pairs of knickers out your drawer"

"But we're going away for two weeks and that's 14 days so I won't have enough"

"Yeah but they'll be a washing machine in our villa, so I can just put some of them in there can't i?"

Alice nodded her head and went to her underwear drawer and got some out for her mum

Rachel noticed how quiet Alice was being and she didn't seem at all like her usual self, as normally she was very chatty and bubbly.

"You're ever so quiet love, has something happened?"

Alice was about to reply but let out a big yawn first

"Oh dear, you really are tired aren't you"

Alice nodded but then started to cry

Rachel sighed and sat her down on her knee "you just feeling a bit under the weather darling?"

Alice nodded her head in response

"Well I'll tell you what you get all nice and comfy in your bed again, have a nap for a little while"

Alice was pleased her mum was letting her go back to bed as it really was what she needed right now.

She was about to get back into bed when Rachel Said "why don't you put your pyjamas on love, then you'll be all nice and cosy"

Alice quickly took off the clothes she was wearing and got her cosy pyjamas on.

Once Alice was in bed she started crying

"Oh love" Rachel said coming and getting in beside her in her double bed "you feeling a bit teary"

"Yeah I don't know why I'm crying"

"You're obviously just feeling a bit tired sweetie, come on close your eyes got a while, might be just what you need"

Alice really was feeling quite tired now so took her mums advice and shut her eyes and within a couple of minutes she was asleep.

Rachel couldn't help but worry a bit, she could see Alice wasn't feeling very well at all, and she hated to think of her poorly.

Both Rachel and Danny spent the next hour or so packing and only stopped when they heard the front door open, and realised Ellie was back so decided to leave the rest till tomorrow however they had already got quite a bit done.

"Hiya love, do you have a nice time?" Rachel asked

"Yeah good" Ellie said as she rushed upstairs

Rachel was a bit puzzled by this as it was very unlike Ellie to just upstairs without coming and having a chat with her first.

She decided to leave it for a few minutes but then went upstairs to check on her.

"Hey is everything okay ?" Rachel asked once she was in Ellie's room.

She was Ellie was hastily closing her drawers presumably after putting shopping away

"Yep" Ellie replied

"Did you buy much"

"No hardly anything" Ellie lied

"Well you must have bought something, you had a load of bags with you when you came in" Rachel said not really understanding why her daughter would lie about this

"Well I bought some stuff ... Just not very much"

"Let's have a look then" Rachel said

Rachel then pulled her daughters draws open and grabbed the bags

"Mum don't ..." Ellie said trying to stop her mum, but Rachel was already looking through the stuff she'd got, so Ellie just sat there nervously

"That's a nice top darling" Rachel said as she had a look in her river island bag

Rachel then looked in a new look bag and was quite shocked when she saw the dress Ellie had bought as it was nothing like the type she'd normally get and was really short and tight. More something she'd expect to see her wearing when she was 17 or 18, certainly not 12! She was even more shocked when she also found some underwear Ellie had bought, as it was again certainly not the type of thing she'd expect to see someone aged 12 wearing.

Ellie sat nervously at the edge of her bed wondering what her mum was going to say to her.

"Mum don't be mad" Ellie begged

"Well I'm not mad, but I am wondering what on earth you're going to be wearing these for"

"I just wanted to buy something a bit grown up"

"But love this is the type of dress you'd wear on a night out when you're older, you must know there's no way I would ever let you leave the house wearing it"

"I know" Ellie mumbled "I just thought it looked nice"

"And I'm sure you'll look beautiful in it darling, it's just a bit old for you that's all"

"I suppose I knew you'd say that" Ellie sighed

"We'll take it back next time we go into town, which should be quite soon because we need some bits and pieces for school" Rachel said "but one thing that might be a bit harder to return is that underwear you bought, what's with that anyway"

"I really don't know why I got that, I just saw it and thought it I'd make me feel older"

"What's with wanting to be older, it's not all it's cracked up to be you know" Rachel said smiling slightly

"I know, mum I really am sorry"

" love there's nothing to be sorry for honestly, I do understand girls your age, well they want to grow up as fast as they possibly can but honestly they really isn't any rush and if you do go out dressed in things like that you are going to attract the wrong sort of attention"

"i know"

"okay well we wont mention anything more about it, just try and think a bit more next time you do go out shopping, anyway it looks like you've bought some lovely things for florida, those shorts you got a lovely"

"yeah i know i already have a load of stuff for it, i just wanted to get a few extra bits"

"well I've started packing a few things today, but i haven't done too much of yours because whenever i do your packing we seem to have to rush out and buy a whole load of new stuff because you refuse to wear anything I've packed"

Ellie laughed her mum did seem to have a habit of packing her the most awful things in her wardrobe whenever they went abroad.

"Well yeah probably because you pack stuff my great aunt knitted me when I was about 6" Ellie laughed causing Rachel to pretend to smack her across the leg.

"Where's Alice anyway, I haven't seen her around" Ellie said

"Oh she's in bed asleep, I don't think she was feeling to well"

"Will she be okay" Ellie asked a little worried

"Oh I'm sure she'll be fine love, I'll go and check up on her now"

Rachel got up off Ellie's bed and walked into Alice's room, however she was still asleep. She began to get quite worried as it wasn't like Alice at all to get this sleepy.

"Alice darling wake up for me a second" Rachel whispered realising she really did have to get Alice moving about a bit now

Eventually Alice stirred, but when she woke up she began to get really worried as she felt her bed sheets were all wet.

"How are you feeling?" Rachel asked

"Can I go back to sleep" Alice asked feeling quite scared

"I think you should get up for a bit love, you know get some fresh air, I dint want you cooped up in here all day long"

Alice then started to cry as she really didn't want to get up

"Alice what's wrong love" Rachel asked concern evident in her voice

"I can't get up"

"Why not?"

"I just can't" Alice sobbed

"Come on sweetheart, I know you're not feeling too good, but I really think it'll be a good idea for you to get out of bed now"

Alice knew she didn't really have a choice so got out of bed.

Once she was out Rachel realised why she was so reluctant to get out of bed before

"Sorry mummy" Alice mumbled staring at the ground feeling really ashamed of herself

"It's alright darling don't worry about it" Rachel said reassuringly, though Alice suddenly burst into tears

"Hey don't cry" Rachel said wrapping her arms around Alice "it's not worth getting upset about my love"

Rachel was surprised about how upset Alice seemed about it, even at 6 Alice did have quite a big problem with staying dry through the night and she would still wear drynites most of the time for bed especially if they were going away anywhere, so both Rachel and Alice were quite used to the problem.

"I'm really sorry"

"Alice it's not your fault okay I'm not cross at all"

It didn't take long for Rachel to sort everything out but even after she had done Alice was still feeling quite upset

Alice sat down on Rachel's knee and continued to cry.

"What's wrong love?"

"I don't know I just feel really tired and poorly"

"I know you must have been in such a deep sleep before, that's why you had an accident"

"I wish it would stop" Alice cried

"It will love, just give it time" Rachel said "why don't you come down with me and get some medicine, that might make you feel a bit better"

Alice walked down with her mum and they went into the kitchen, where both Danny and Ellie were

"Alice what's wrong?" Danny asked

"I don't feel very well"

Rachel quickly got some medicine out the cupboard and gave it to Alice

"Now why don't you go and sit on one of the chairs outside for a little while or go on the trampoline, it'll do you good to get out"

Alice really just wanted to stay inside however took her mums advice and went outside

"Is she okay, she looked like she'd been crying?" Ellie asked

"I think she's feeling pretty rough, she can't seem to keep her eyes open and she said she feels poorly, she had a little sleep for a couple of hours but she finished up wetting her bed"

"But she does that all the time mum"

"Yeah but only when she's in a really deep sleep, not normally if she's just resting"

"Are you going to get her checked out" Danny asked "you want her fixed before Florida"

"I'll try and make an appointment for her now, just to check it's nothing serious thought I'm sure it isn't"

"Still better to be safe than sorry"

Rachel then went and got the phone and after quite a long time with the receptionist, she managed to get her an appointment for 6:30 that evening

She then went out into the garden to check on Alice and found her sat on the chair but it was obvious she could barely keep her eyes open.

"Hey love, I've just come to sit out here with you for a while"

Rachel then pulled up a chair and sat down next to Alice

"Mummy my head hurts"

"Well I've managed to get you an appointment at our doctors for later on so hopefully we'll soon have you fixed" Rachel said

"Okay"

"When did you start to feel poorly" Rachel asked

"This morning" Alice said

"You should have told me love"

"I know but I didn't think it was that bad" aLice explained

The next couple of hours past relatively quickly and soon it was time for Rachel to take Alice to her appointment

"Right we shouldn't be too long see you soon" she said to Ellie and Danny

"I'll start tea while you're out"

"Okay thank you" Rachel said

The two of them then walked out to the car and got in.

"Mum what do I need to tell the doctor"

"Well just about how you've been feeling and what the problem is, I'll do most of the talking if you'd rather love"

"Will I need to tell them about me having an accident" Alice asked sounding really worried

"I shouldn't think so no, well unless they ask which I seriously doubt they would"

"But what if they do ask"

"Well I'm almost certain they won't, but if they do, just tell them, they'll have heard it all before anyway"

By the time they got to the doctors Alice was feeling quite nervous about her appointment but went inside with her mum anyway.

It was quite a while after there appointment was scheduled when they actually got called In.

"Hi sorry for the delay" the doctor said

"It's no problem" Rachel said though she'd actually been quite annoyed by the fact they'd had to wait significantly longer than they expected to

"So what can I do for you"

"Well it might sound daft to be worrying about it, but Alice had been feeling really drowsy all day and keeps falling asleep, she's also been feeling quite nauseous and headachy" Rachel explained

"Okay well you've done absolutely the right thing by coming in, I'm just going to run a few checks just to see there's no serious problem"

The doctor then carried out a few routine tests and found everything was normal

"Okay well everything appears to be fine, though I'm going to refer her to get some bloods taken just to rule out anaemia though it's pretty rare in a girl her age, what I'd suggest is plenty of exercise and water and that you try and keep her awake until bedtime"

"Okay well thanks for seeing her"

Rachel quickly said goodbye before walking out with Alice and making an appointment for early tomorrow morning for her to get her bloods done and then going back to the car.

"So am I okay mummy" Alice asked

"Well we can't be certain till we get the blood test results, but the doctor didn't seem too worried did she, so I'd say you're going to be fine"

Before long the two of them were home again, and when they got in Rachel was surprised to see that tea was already ready.

"Ooh this looks good" Rachel said

"Don't know how it'll taste" Danny said laughing as they all sat down at the table "was everything okay at the doctors"

"Yeah she's got to have some bloods but it looks like everything's going to be fine"

"Oh good" Danny said

They then all started eating and to Rachel's surprise Danny had actually done a pretty good Job.

They all had a really nice family night in together but at about 8 Rachel decided to get Alice bathed and into bed.

"Mummy I feel a bit better now" Alice said once she was in the bath

"Well that's great but I hope you feeling better doesn't mean you're not going to go straight to bed tonight."

"Well I don't feel that tired" Alice said causing Rachel to roll her eyes

Rachel then started massaging shampoo into Alice's head

"Mummy are you going to stay with Danny forever and ever"

"Well I don't know that for certain but we certainly love each other very much and I think he's great for us all so I don't see any reason for us to split up, why do you ask"

"I was just wondering, I hope you don't split up, I like him"

"Well I don't think there's anything to worry about sweetheart"

Rachel continued to bath Alice but then decided to get her out and dry

Once she'd dried off her hair Rachel said "right come on then pyjamas on, and it might be an idea to put one of your dry nights on tonight, you know just in case, especially if you're feeling a bit poorly"

"Okay mummy" Alice mumbled cheeks flushing a bit

Alice then got herself sorted for bed and quickly went to the bathroom, before going and sitting on her bed.

"Come on love get straight in, I want you to have a good sleep tonight so hopefully you're not feeling as sleepy tomorrow"

Rachel said goodnight and was just about to go when Alice stopped her

"Mummy please will you sit and talk to me for a while, just until I feel tired again"

"Okay love" Rachel said getting the big comfy been bag in Alice's room and out tin got next to her bed so she could sit down and talk to her.

"So are you excited to go to America darling"

"Yes it's going to be so good, I won't be able to sleep tomorrow I'll be so excited"

"Well you better do, we have to get up very early the next morning"

"But I can never sleep when I'm excited"

"I'm sure you'll manage sweetheart" Rachel said smiling slightly

"Mummy when are you going to have your next baby" Alice asked randomly, causing Rachel to burst out laughing- the things children would come out with sometimes really would be funny.

"Alice what in earth makes you think I'm going to have a baby"

"Well I saw you give Danny a kiss on the lips yesterday and it was really long and yucky so I think it must have been a special kiss, and you said that's how babies are made, when two people have a special kiss, so you must be having a baby" Alice explained

Rachel bit her lip praying she wouldn't laugh, but the serious look on her daughters face as she was explaining it to her, made it very difficult not to.

"Darling I'm not having a baby I promise"

"But you Said a special kiss always makes a ..."

"Yeah I know what I said but it only works sometimes and i promise you im not pregnant okay"

"Okay"

"Right are you going to go to sleep now"

"Yes but can I go to the toilet first"

"You went to the toilet not 10 minutes ago"

"Yes but I want to make sure I don't need it again"

"You'll wake up if you need it, it's bad for you to go to the loo to often"

"But I often don't wake up that's the problem"

"Well I think you're going to be fine tonight, come on love go to sleep"

"Okay" Alice sighed

Rachel then kissed Alice goodnight again, before going off.

She was about to go downstairs when she heard Sobs coming from Ellie's room, so went to investigate.

"Ellie what's happened love" Rachel asked

"Nothing I'm just being stupid"

Feeling a little worried Rachel went and sat down next to her

"What's up?"

"I really am just being daft"

"Well you tell me what's happened and I'll be the judge of that"

Ellie sighed but then decided to tell her mum "I've just been texting Samantha, but she's being so off with me mum, like I asked to meet up and she keeps just making these daft excuses she promised nothing would change when i moved school"

Rachel knew how much sam meant to Ellie the two of them had been best friends since primary and had been inseparable since then but she had noticed things being different between the two of them now.

"Oh love that must be horrible for you, but you've made so many friends since you started waterloo road and they all seem to adore you, so you know what if sam isn't going to make the effort with you then don't you go worrying about her, she'll realise what she's missing out on soon enough and come running back, but in the mean time concentrate on the friends you have got okay"

"I guess you're right"

"That's because I'm always right" Rachel joked "now you just stop upsetting yourself over her okay and come and give your mum a hug"

Ellie wrapped her arms around her mum and this instantly made her feels so much better, a cuddle from her mum always did seem to work wonders.

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	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It was the night before the family were due to fly out to Florida and it was fair to say everyone was very excited, especially Alice who had been hyper all day and Rachel knew she would have a real job in trying to get her to get some sleep tonight, though she knew how important it was especially since they would all have to wake up at 4am tomorrow in order to get to the airport in time.

Rachel saw the time was 8 so decided to get her into bed now, it was a little earlier than she normally made her go to bed at, however Rachel knew it would take a lot longer to get her to sleep.

She walked upstairs and saw the tv in the playroom was on so presumed her daughter must be in there.

"Come on Alice time for bed love" Rachel said not looking forward to the abuse she'd get from Alice about making her go to bed early

"But it's not my bedtime yet mummy" Alice said sweetly

"Yes but we're up really early tomorrow and you need you're sleep" Rachel said

She knew what a nightmare Alice could be if she didn't get a semi decent sleep, and on an eight hour flight to America it really wasn't what she needed.

"Can I just watch one more thing on Netflix then I'll go to sleep I promise" Alice said

"No you can't watch a film there on for about 2 hours"

"Not a film just an episode of something"

Rachel sighed but knew if she put Alice to bed now she probably wouldn't go to sleep.

"Fine but then you promise me you'll go to bed straight away"

"I promise"

"Right well I'll come back in half an hour and I don't expect to have any arguments with you okay"

"Okay"

Rachel then left and went down to see Danny, who had just made her a coffee

"Did you get Alice settled down"

"Nope she refused to go to bed so I gave In and let her watch another episode of something" Rachel said causing Danny to laugh

"What's Ellie doing"

"Watching something on Netflix in the living room"

"For gods sake since we got that it's all them two seem to do" Rachel sighed "I'm going to check on her"

Rachel then quickly got up and went into the living room where she saw Ellie laid down on the sofa, it took a while for Ellie to realise her mum was there but when she saw her, she quickly turned the tv off.

"What were you watching?" Rachel asked

"Catfish" Ellie replied

"Well why did you turn it off the minute I walked in then" Rachel said raising her eyebrows slightly

"Got bored of it" Ellie said casually

Rachel then grabbed the tv remote and went on to see what Ellie had been watching

"Orange is the new black" Rachel said "for gods sake I've told you about that before, it's a load of crap and completely inappropriate for a girl your age"

"Everyone watches it though" Ellie argued

"I can hardly believe that, and if i see you watching it again I'm going to ban you from watching tv all together, you got that"

"Yes ma'am" Ellie said rolling her eyes, she hated when her mum was so fussy about things like this, it could get her really annoyed at times

"I mean it Ellie" Rachel warned

"I know"

"Right now if you're going to watch tv put something nice on okay"

"Okay" Ellie sighed

Rachel then left and went back into the back room with Danny

"All okay"

"Yep except my 12 year old daughter is intent on watching the most disturbing, inappropriate tv shows ever made"

Danny couldn't help but laugh at this, the arguments between Ellie and Rachel really could be quite comical at times.

"It's not funny, honestly the amount of crap kids watch these days..." Rachel sighed

The two of them had a chat for a while but then Rachel decided it was definitely time to get Alice to bed, so went upstairs

When Rachel got to the playroom she saw Alice was sat looking terrified on the sofa hugging a cushion, she was confused for a second but then saw what Alice had in the tv.

"What the hell is that" Rachel said in disbelief at the gory murder scene that was taking place, she went straight over and turned it straight off.

"Why on earth are you watching stuff like that" Rachel said unable to believe the fact she'd walked in on her 6 year old watching that

"It's called scream"

"For gods sake Alice that's a 15, or actually it might be an 18 ...well either way, why on earth did you decide to out that on"

"It was so scary" Alice cried "I thought I'd put it on then I'd be able to tell everyone at school I'd watched a proper horror movie"

"Oh yeah because that's going to make me look like a fantastic mother isn't it" Rachel sighed "I thought you said you were going to watch an episode of something"

"Well I was going to but then I saw this so clicked on it" Alice said feeling terrified

"Well then you're a very silly girl, I'm never trusting you alone in here again"

"Mummy I'm frightened"

"Well is it any wonder" Rachel said "go on we'll talk about it when you're all tucked in, go and brush you teeth"

Alice then went into the bathroom with Rachel to brush her teeth and go for a last wee.

"Come on then get your pyjamas on" Rachel said

Alice then got changed and then got straight into bed

"You still scared?" Rachel asked

Alice just nodded her head

"Well it's not surprising really is it? But what you've got to remember is, the people you saw in that film weren't real, they were just actors and they are probably very nice people in real life and they wouldn't dream of hurting anyone, most of them are probably married and have families of there own"

"But stuff like in that film can happen in real life can't it mum"

Rachel sighed not knowing how to answer this in a way that would make Alice feel reassured

"Well occasionally but hardly ever"

"But it still could"

"Well I think you're safe enough love ... Now stop worrying and think about going on holiday tomorrow okay"

"Okay night mum"

"Night love you lots"

Rachel then tucked Alice in and stayed with her for a couple of minutes before going down, however she guessed she'd be back up at some point to tend to her daughter who would probably be having nightmares all night because of it.

Rachel had only been down an hour or so when she heard Alice screaming for her.

"God this is all because of that bloody movie she was watching" she sighed before going up and running into her daughters room

"The man with the masks going to kill me mummy"

"Darling it was just a bad dream, you're in bed nice and safe" Rachel reassured her

Alice jumped on her mums knee and wrapped her arms tightly around her.

"Mummy I'm too scared to go back to sleep"

"Well would it help if you went and jumped in my bed, so you know I'm there to look after you"

Alice nodded, she'd been hoping her mum would suggest her going in her bed as she was very scared and she wanted her mum to look after her.

Rachel led Alice into her room and tucked her in again

"I'll be about 20 minutes then I'm coming to bed too, but I want you fast asleep by then okay?"

"Okay" Alice said

Rachel went down but after a while both Danny and her felt tired so went up to bed

"Alice is in our room, so I was thinking would you mind sleeping in one of the spare rooms tonight it's just we need a good sleep and you know what a wriggler Alice is"

"Yeah that's fine darling, night I'll see you in the morning"

"Bright and early" Rachel added, the early morning start was definitely one part of the holiday she was definitely not looking forward to.

Rachel then went into her bedroom but saw Alice was still awake and sat up in bed

"Now what did I say to you earlier... I wanted you asleep by the time I got up"

"I'm sorry I wanted to wait for you so you could give me a cuddle before i went to sleep"

"Okay love well just let me get into my pyjamas then I'll come in"

Rachel then reached under her pillow and grabbed her pyjamas before taking off her day clothes. However as Rachel was getting changed she felt Alice looking at her.

"What are you looking at?" Rachel asked before getting into bed beside Alice

"Mum when will I look like you"

Rachel laughed at this not really understanding what Alice meant

"What do you mean when will you look like me ... Never if you're lucky" Rachel joked

"No like when will I get boobs and have a really flat stomach and hips" Alice asked

"When you're older darling" Rachel replied "but for now you just be glad you're a little girl okay"

"But i want to look like you do though" Alice said

"Well one day you will, but not yet though eh?"

"I can't wait to grow up" Alice sighed

Rachel smiled slightly, sure her daughter would change her mind over the next 10 years or so

"Come on let's go to sleep, i just need to go to my bathroom quickly darling

Rachel went into her bathroom and went to the toilet and brushed her teeth before getting back into bed however by the time she did Alice was already fast asleep in bed.

She smiled at the sight of her daughter before getting Into bed next to Alice and cuddling up to her.

It seemed like no time had passed at all before Rachel's alarm went off telling her it was time to drag herself out of bed and go and wake the kids up.

After what seemed like forever they were ready to go to the airport, so Rachel and Danny got the girls in the car before both doing a last check of the house and making sure all the lights were off.

"Right I think we're good to go Rach"

"Great so here comes the nice part- a 2 hour journey to the airport an 8 hour flight and then knowing our luck an hours drive to out villa"

"Well isn't that something to look forward to" Danny joked

The two of them then got in the front of the car and began to drive

"Mummy are we nearly there yet" Alice asked after 10 minutes

Danny and Rachel gave each other a look, they could both tell this was going to be a very long day.

"No Alice like I told you yesterday it takes 2 hours to get to the airport" Rachel said

"But it must have been two hours already" Alice sighed

"No it's been 10 minutes"

Another half hour or so passed without any disruption, however suddenly Alice began to feel really sick

"You okay Alice you've gone quiet" Rachel asked

"I feel sick"

"Oh god" Rachel sighed "ellie pass her your bottle of water will you"

Ellie passed Alice the water and Alice started to gulp it down as she really was very thirsty however she soon realised this was a big mistake as it made her feel even more sick

"Mum she's going to throw up" Ellie said when she saw how pale Alice looked

Ellie backed away from Alice as the last thing she wanted was to be covered in sick

Rachel wondered what on earth they should do, however eventually decided to empty a tesco bag with a load of sandwiches for later in and handed it to Alice

Almost as soon as Alice took hold of the bag she started being sick in it.

"Good girl darling at least it went in the bag" Rachel said trying to sound positive however the smell was actually making her feel really sick as well.

"I'm sorry" Alice mumbled feeling really embarrassed for having been sick in front of everyone

"It can't be help love" Rachel said

As soon as he could Danny pulled in and Rachel had the job of trying of dispose of Alice's bag, which was definitely enough to start to make her feel very sick herself.

"Right now I don't want either of you to eat anything before we get to the airport, I don't think my stomach could cope with any more sick okay"

The rest of the journey passed quite quickly with no major disturbances and soon they wre at the airport however there flight wasn't for another hour and a half.

"Mummy I'm hungry now" Alice said

"Okay well, why don't we have some breakfast then" Rachel said

It took them quite a while but eventually they found a little cafe selling breakfasts so they went In there.

When they got there food they were all quite disappointed, as they'd paid quite a lot for it and it wasn't that nice, but at least it filled them up a bit.

"Mum will I be big enough to go on all the rides" Alice asked

"We'll have to see darling but probably not all the rides" Rachel said, that was the only bad thing about doing the whole Disney holiday when Alice was so young, she never liked to be left out of anything but Rachel knew there was no way Alice would be big enough to go on most of the main roller coasters, so someone would always have to wait with her while the others went on.

After what seemed like forever check in opened so they quickly went through and then through security.

Once they were through they sat down on one of the sets of comfy chairs near boarding.

"Danny will you keep an eye on the kids a second, I'm just going to have a look in smiths over there" Rachel said getting up, she'd just realised she hadn't really bought Alice or Ellie anything to keep them occupied on the plane, and on an eight hour flight this probably wasn't a good idea.

"Can I come with you mummy" Alice asked

"Okay come on" Rachel said so Alice jumped up and walked over with Rachel

"Now Alice it's a very long flight and you probably are going to get a bit bored at times, but what you can't do is make a big fuss because they'll be lots of other people on the plane beside you, so it's not fair on them"

"I'll be good I promise"

"Well I'll make a deal with you, if your a good girl all the way there, I'll buy you a treat as soon as we get to America" Rachel said, she never really believed in bribery however she was willing to make an exception if if meant keeping Alice quiet in the flight.

"Okay" Alice agreed, liking the sound of this deal a lot.

"Now why don't you go and choose something to keep busy on the plane"

Alice then went off and a few minutes later came back with one of the massive toy lions and a game for her wii in her hand

"Alice what on earth are you doing with them, put them back" Rachel sighed

"But you said I could pick something"

"Yes a book or something I doubt anyone else would be impressed if you brought that massive thing on and I doubt very much economy class will be fitted with wiis" Rachel said, normally if they were going abroad they would normally go business class however this year it would be so much more expensive and the kids would finish up annoying everyone on there so they decided it really wasn't worth it.

"Okay" Alice said sounding disappointed, she went off and came back a but later with some books in her hand and some puzzle books

"Well that's a much more sensible choice" Rachel said however then she saw just how many Alice had got "do you really need all them though there must be about 7 books there, and 3 puzzle books"

"But I definitely won't get bored"

In the end Rachel gave in and bought them all, however she knew Danny wouldn't be impressed when he found out she'd spent the best part of £40 in whs smiths.

After a while an announcement came on telling them they could begin boarding

"Right Alice do you need to go to the toilet before we get on"

Alice shook her head desperate to just get on the plane

"Are you sure" Rachel asked wearily

"Yes" Alice said sounding adamant

So they all got on the plane

"So who's sitting where" Danny asked.

They hadn't managed to get seats together and were sat in pairs behind each other.

"How about I sit with Ellie and you sit with Alice" Rachel said quickly knowing she would have a much more peaceful time sat with Alice

"No I think you should sit with Alice"

"Why"

"Well because you have all her books and stuff" Danny said he knew it was a lame argument but it was worth a shot.

In the End Alice finished up next to Rachel however they decided to swap round after a couple of hours, luckily they were sat at the end of there row so they wouldn't have to push past people if they needed to get out.

"Mummy when do we take off" Alice asked

"Soon sweetheart"

"Please can you read my book to me"

"No you just read it quietly to yourself, I don't think the other people will appreciate me residing it out Loud will they?"

"No I suppose not"

Alice then started reading her book and it wasn't long before they were on the runway.

As they began to go Alice got really scared all of a sudden so clasped her mums hand tightly

"It's alright darling" Rachel said

"I'm scared"

"I know but you're going to be fine okay"

A few minutes passed and Alice stopped feeling so scared and actually started to quite enjoy it, however suddenly she realised she was desperate for the toilet, she had sort of needed to go when Rachel asked her earlier however she was just desperate to get on the plane so didn't go.

Alice really didn't want anyone else to hear her so tried to hold on for a while but she knew she couldn't hold much longer so whispered in her mums ear

"Mum I need a wee"

Rachel rolled her eyes and sighed "well you can't go yet and why on earth didn't you go when I told you to"

"I wanted to get on the plane, mummy I'm desperate" Alice said nearly in tears

"Well your going to have to hold on"

"But I can't"

"Well what do you want me to do? Get the pilot to make an emergency landing"

Alice knew there was nothing she could do so tried to hold on.

After what seemed like an eternity the seatbelt sign went off so Rachel and Alice quickly dashed to the toilets. However when they got there, there was still people waiting.

"Mummy I need to ..."

"I know it's all you've been saying for the past 10 minutes"

Eventually it was Alice's turn to go in so Rachel went in with her, so they could both go.

Alice quickly pulled her trousers down but she noticed her knickers were already a bit damp

"I'm sorry mummy" Alice cried

"It's okay I've got some Spare in my bag for just In case just go quickly now, I only brought one spare pair with me so if you need to go again you better tell me straight away"

After Alice had been Rachel quickly got her changed before going herself.

Once they'd both been they washed there hands then went out, a few of the people started complaining because they'd been so long however Alice now feeling a lot more comfortable.

Rachel sat down and sighed she really wasn't looking forward to this journey one bit.

A couple of hours passed and Alice had actually behaved remarkably well, however now she was getting a little restless, so Rachel tried to get the tv to work so Alice could pick a film.

"What film do you want to watch" Rachel asked "actually I'm not sure I should let you choose after last night"

"I want to watch frozen" Alice said

"you watch that about 5 times a day" Rachel said however if It kept her quiet she really wasn't bothered in the slightest right now

Alice put it on and this did actually keep her quiet for a bit and she seemed to be enjoying it so Rachel got her book out and started reading it.

Another few hours passed and they'd just finished having there lunch

"Mum I'm a bit worried" Alice said

"What are you worried about?" Rachel asked

"Well you know that man over there" Alice said pointing

"Yes but don't point it's rude"

"Well I'm scared he's going to bomb the plane and we're all going to die" Alice said

"Alice shh don't say things like that" Rachel said horrified

"But he looks all suspicious" Alice explained

"I don't care you don't say things like that okay"

"Okay" Alice said "but if he does, it's not my fault if we all die"

"Right well now we've established that can we please be quiet about it all"

Rachel then turned back to her book.

The remainder of the flight did seem to drag a bit but overall it wasn't so bad and the girls were now really excited

"Mummy, have I been good enough to get my treat" Alice asked sounding excited

"Oh I think so"

"Yay can I get it now"

"Well you might want to get It tomorrow when we go to magic kingdom I think they'll be more to choose from"

"Okay" Alice said

They then all went to get there bags and eventually they came through.

Another hour or so went by and now they were in the car

"That sat nav better work" Danny said

"Well we paid enough for it" Rachel said

"Mum what time is it now" Ellie asked wanting to out her watch into the correct time

"2pm"

"I already feel a bit sleepy mum"Alice said

"Well you've got to try and stay awake you need to get your bodies into American time"

After getting Lost quite a few times they eventually managed to find the villa

"Oh my god it's beautiful" Rachel said really surprised by how nice it was

"It's massive" Ellie commented

Excited the four of them went inside and started looking round, they couldn't believe how big it was and the swimming pool outside was lovely.

"Mum this is the best villa ever" Alice said clearly very excited

"I know it's very nice isn't it"

"I want to go swimming"

"Well you can't yet love, not till we've unpacked because your swim stuffs right at the bottom, I packed it first to make sure I remembered it"

"Well can't I just go in, in my pants"

"Do you really have to" Rachel sighed

"Yea"

After a bit of persuasion Rachel agreed to let Alice go in, she loved the wasted now she'd learnt to swim and Rachel couldn't keep her out of it,

The first few hours at the villa were so nice, however after that everyone got a bit tired and ratty and Rachel had to keep trying to stop Alice from going to sleep,

All four of them were very happy when it was an acceptable time to go to bed at so they could have a good nights sleep, but they were so excited to start there holiday properly.

Please review xxxxx


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Been a while since I last went to Florida so not all of this will be accurate,most of it's just what I can remember but hope it's okay anyway x

It was the first day of the holiday and everyone was enjoying a good sleep, except Alice who had woken up at 5am and was now unable to go back to sleep, partly because she was so excited and also because her body was still in english time.

She waited for to her what seemed like forever however it was actually only about Half an hour before deciding to get up and go and see her mum and Danny, thinking they must be awake by now.

Alice crept out of bed before starting to walk across the landing and into her mums room, but when she got there she realised they were both still fast asleep, so she went over and tapped Rachel on the shoulder hoping to wake her.

Eventually Rachel stirred and opened her eyes, she jumped when she saw her daughter stood there, especially when she realised that both her and Danny were completely naked under the covers, last night things had got a little heated once they'd gone to bed, but they hadn't bothered to out there pyjamas back on once they'd finished.

Rachel made sure that the thin quilt cover was wrapped tightly around her body before sitting up.

"Alice it's 5:30 in the morning go back to sleep"

"I can't I'm not sleepy at all mummy" Alice said adamantly

"Well I am so leave me in peace for a while"

"Mummy why haven't you and Danny got any clothes on" Alice asked when she realised that her mums shoulders were bare.

Rachel sighed struggling to think of a reasonable excuse.

"Because it's boiling hot, you just slept in your knickers didn't you?"

"Well yes but that's different mummy" Alice said

"Why"

"Because I'm just little and I don't have boobs or anything and you're big and you do have boobs" Alice said in a matter of fact tone

"Right Well I'm glad we've established that, now perhaps you'd like to go back to bed"

"Do I have to mum" Alice moaned

Rachel sighed realising she wasn't going to get a moments peace if she attempted to make Alice go back to bed.

"Right go and wait in the bathroom a second" Rachel said

Alice did as she was told, so Rachel quickly grabbed some strappy pyjamas and out them on.

"Right come here" Rachel called

Alice came back in and sat down on her mums knee

"Okay you can come into bed with me for a bit before we go downstairs but me don't want you talking or anything you're to be a good girl and let me have a rest"

"Okay mummy"

Rachel threw back her covers so that Alice could get in.

Alice instantly snuggled up to Rachel and although she wasn't planning to, she finished up going straight to sleep.

A few hours passed and by now everyone was awake.

"Mummy where are we going today?" Alice asked while Rachel was busy making some breakfast in the kitchen

"Oh I don't know maybe we'll do some shopping" Rachel joked

She tried not to laugh as she saw Alice's face drop

"I'm only kidding love, we'll have some breakfast and then go to magic kingdom okay?"

"Yay that's where you see Mickey Mouse and everything" Alice said sounding really excited now

"Yep it is, though we can't stay too late tonight because we have basically nothing to eat so we will have to go to one of the supermarkets I'm afraid" Rachel said

"Okay"

After a while Danny and Rachel had finished cooking the breakfast so started putting it out on plates

"Ellie breakfasts ready" Rachel called

However after a few minutes Ellie still had t materialised so Rachel rolled her eyes and said "Danny go upstairs and get Ellie down will you love?"

"Sure" Danny said

Alice decided to go up too as she wanted to say good morning to Ellie as she hadn't seen her yet this morning

Ellie's door was slightly ajar so Danny just knocked once but didn't bother waiting for a response and just walked in.

Danny got a shock however when Ellie was just in her bra and knickers having just got up out of bed.

It was difficult to tell who was more embarrassed, Danny or Ellie, both of there cheeks were bright red

"Sorry" Danny muttered before closing the door

They were all sat down at the table when Ellie came down, as soon as she did Alice started giggling

"What are you giggling at missus" Rachel asked

"Danny saw Ellie in her pants and bra" Alice told her causing Ellie and Danny to feel embarrassed again

"Sorry for bursting In on you, I really didn't know you were getting changed" Danny said

"It's okay" Ellie said

The 4 of them all ate there breakfast before going off to finish getting ready.

Rachel and Danny were sat on there bed chatting when Alice suddenly barged in with just her knickers on.

"You planning on going out like that are you?" Rachel joked

"No mummy, but I don't know where all my other clothes are"

"Oh there still in the suitcase I didn't get round to unpacking yours last night, come here I'll find you something"

Rachel then started searching through her suitcase and found some nice shorts and a summer top so Alice to out on.

"Wait let me do your suncream first it's boiling outside"

Rachel looked In her bag and quickly found the suncream so sprayed Alice all over before decking to do herself while she was there.

Once Alice had out her clothes on Rachel went through to Ellie's bedroom where Ellie was sat putting her make up on.

"You really don't need to bother with makeup in weather like this you know love"

"Yes I don, I still want to look nice"

"You look just as nice without makeup on" Rachel said however she knew she was fighting a losing battle trying to explain this to Ellie

"What do you want" Ellie asked

"To make sure you out your suncream on, come on up"

Ellie rolled her eyes but knew there was no point trying to argue with her mum about a suncream and if she didn't have any on there was no way Rachel would let her out.

"I can't believe Danny walked in while I was getting changed earlier" Ellie said still feeling a bit embarrassed

"well me and him have been going out quite a while now, it's not like you've got anything he's never seen before" Rachel said laughing slightly

"Yeah thanks mum, I really didn't need that"

Rachel finished off doing Ellie's suncream so then they were all ready to go.

"Come on girls get in the car" Rachel said

A few minutes later both girls came running down and got straight in.

"Mummy I'm so excited now" Alice said causing Rachel to smile

"I know you are love"

After about a 15 minute drive they arrived and the girls jumped straight out.

"Mum will you go on space mountain with me" Ellie begged, she really wanted to go on it but knew Alice wouldn't be big enough so really hoped one of either Rachel or Danny would go on.

"Sure but it looks pretty scary so you'll have to hold my hand and I'll have my eyes tight shut"

"That's alright it's in the pitch black anyway" Ellie said

"Oh god if sounds terrifying" Rachel said wondering what she'd let herself in for

When they got in they went and had a look at all the Disney characters for a while, but this was mainly to keep Alice happy.

"Mum looks it's Cinderella" Alice exclaimed, clearly very excited

"Wow, why don't you go and get a photo" Rachel suggested

"No the queues really big, I'll get one later" Alice decided, Rachel was quite relieved hearing this, as she really didn't fancy waiting in a queue for 20 minutes just for one photo.

"Mum we should get a fasttrack for space mountain so we can go on later but they'll hardly be a wait"

"Okay let's do that then"

Rachel and Ellie bought a fasttrack ticket for 1 hours time so in the mean time decided to go on some of the smaller rides for Alice

"Can we go in phantom manner" Ellie asked

"Okay" Rachel said "Alice won't be too scared will she, you seem to know what happens on every single ride here"

"I googled loads before we came, no she'll be fine, look there's loads of little kids waiting in the queue"

"Alice will you be okay" Rachel asked

Alice nodded her head but really she did feel a bit frightened however she didn't want to admit this In Front of everyone

So the 4 of them joined the queue which luckily wasn't too long.

Once they were inside they all went into this old lift where a man with a really creepy sounding voice started telling a horror story.

Rachel wouldn't admit it but she was feeling a little bit creeped out and it really didn't help when half way through Danny suddenly put her hands around her neck to make her scared, Rachel jumped suddenly letting out a scream which caused everyone standing round her to look at her weirdly.

"Mummy I don't think I want to go on" Alice whispered to her mum

"Well it's a bit late now isn't it love? Come in you come in a carriage with me I'll look after you"

Reluctantly Alice got in a carriage with Rachel and Ellie and Danny got in the one behind them.

As soon as they set off Alice got really scared and started to cry, so Rachel out her arm around her.

A few minutes later Alice became even more scared when they went passed the room telling the story of the headless wife so buried her head in Rachel's chest and closed her eyes tightly

"It's okay love" Rachel whispered

Both Rachel and Alice were very glad to get off when the carriage stopped but Danny and Ellie had loved every second of it

"That was so good can we go on again" Ellie asked

"Well you can but I don't think me and Alice will join you" Rachel said thinking Ellie was joking

"Okay come on Danny" Ellie said

Danny laughed but followed Ellie round so they could go on again

"You fancy an ice cream while we wait" Rachel asked Alice

Alice nodded so Rachel told her to wait while she went and got two 99s

The two of them chatted while they had there ice creams for a bit, however it wasn't long before Danny and Ellie came out.

"Aw mum can I get an ice cream" Ellie asked

"Well get one after we've been on space mountain, we're due in that soon" Rachel said

Everyone then walked over to where space mountain was.

"Danny can we go on the Snow White ride while mummy and Ellie are on that"

"Yeah I love Snow White" Danny said causing Alice to giggle

"Right we'll see you soon"

"Unless you fall off the roller coaster it does look pretty scary" Danny joked causing Rachel to smack him

"Alice try and loose Danny while you're on it will you" Rachel joked "you'd be doing me a big favour"

Rachel and Ellie then went off and joined the queue

When they were there Rachel could hear how loud the roller coaster was and began to get a bit scared

"Are you sure you want to go on this Ellie, i don't mind turning round if you don't"

"So basically your scared"

"No it's just ..."

"We'll be fine mum" Ellie said "I'll look after you"

Rachel knew she would look silly if she turned back now so stood behind the barrier ready to get on with her daughter

Eventually the barrier opened so they got on

The two of them sat down and pulled there harness down

"Ellie make sure it's properly on" Rachel said pushing down in her own and then Ellie's to make sure they were Locked

"Mum I'm sure there not going to let us set off with harnesses that are going to fly up, relax"

The man then came round And checked all there harnesses before they set off

"Oh my god Ellie I'm scared"

"Same actually" Ellie admitted as they began to climb up.

"Bloody hell how far are we going to go up" Rachel said

"Mum I'm shitting it now"

"Watch your lang..."

However Rachel didn't have time to finish her sentence as they began to drop

The two of them screamed as they went down, however after a while began to really enjoy the thrill of the ride

"Mum that was amazing" Ellie said once they were off

"Actually I'm quite glad you made me come on that"

They then walked outside and after a little while found Danny

"Well we made it back Alive" Rachel joked "where's Alice got to"

It was only then that Rachel saw how worried Danny looked "Danny where's she gone" Rachel asked again however this time she sounded a lot more concerned

"I turned my back for literally one or two seconds and I can't find her"

"Oh god" Rachel said

He three of them instantly began too panic as none of them had any idea where Alice could have gone

"How could you loose her you idiot" Ellie shouted

"Ellie that isn't helping" Rachel said

"Right Danny me and you need to split up me and Ellie will look on one side and you on the other and we'll ring if we find her"

Rachel and Ellie then started to search for Alice

They started asking everyone they could possibly find if they'd her anywhere but nobody had

After about 15 minutes they were all getting really panicky as no body had found her

"Mum I really need the loo" Ellie Said

"Is this really the right time Ellie" Rachel snapped however then she felt bad "sorry come on let's go"

The two of them then went into the toilets but then suddenly they saw Alice near one of the basins

"Oh thank Christ your okay" Rachel said rushing over to her and picking the little girl up in her arms

She was getting a few funny looks but right now she didn't really care.

"Where the hell have you been" Rachel said shaking her slightly, her voice a mixture of anger and relief

"I'm sorry mummy, I only went over to look at this ride and then I was going to go and stand with Danny again but my tummy felt really funny so I had to run to the toilet" Alice said beginning to cry

"Well why on earth didn't you to tell Danny where you were going he was worried sick about you"

"Because my tummy was really hurting so I had to go to the toilet really quickly"

"Oh what am I going to do with you...you're a very naughty girl running off like that" Rachel said however she was really just more relieved than anything

After Ellie had been to the toilet they went out and quickly met back up with Danny

"Oh Rach you found her" Danny said relieved

Rachel then went over and explained what had happened

"Thank god she's okay" Danny said

"I know I've hold her how silky she was for running off" Rachel said "anyway should we go on some more rides now" Rachel suggested

"Yes I really want to go on this rode over there" Alice said

"Right and you young lady will be holding my hand the entire way round"

"Okay" Alice sighed holding onto Rachel's hand tightly

They were walking over and Rachel realised how quiet Danny was being

"You okay love" Rachel asked

"Yeah just thinking about how stupid I was for loosing her I she'd have had my eye on her" Danny sighed feeling really awful about what had happened

"You can't keep your eyes on the, 24/7 Danny" Rachel said squeezing his arm slightly "hey I've lost Alice loads of times she's an absolute menace for running off"

"I guess I just feel bad"

"Well don't if it's anyone's fault it's hers not yours, so don't go blaming yourself okay"

"Okay" Danny said

Rachel then planted a soft kiss on Danny's lips before they went on the ride

The day went by really fast and before they knew it, it was 7pm so they knew they had to be getting back or the supermarkets would be shut.

They all got in the car all of them a bit worn out after such a good day.

After about 10 minutes Rachel noticed it had gone really quiet in the back so turned round and saw both girls asleep on each other

"Danny look at this" Rachel said laughing

Danny turned round and smiled as well

"God they look so cute when there asleep even Ellie only looks about 10 bless her" Rachel said smiling

It didn't take very long for them to arrive at the supermarkets but Rachel didn't want to wake the girls when they looked so peaceful

"Shield we just leave them in" Rachel asked "we won't be too long"

"I'll wait with them if you want and you go in" Danny offered

"No it's okay, they'll be fine"

So both Danny and Rachel went in and bought everything they could think they may need

"Bloody hell that was some shopping bill" Danny said on the way back to the car

"Hmm a lot cheaper than it would have been back home though"

"True but still you didn't half buy some crap Rachel I mean did you really need 5 bottles of shampoo"

"We might run out" Rachel argued however she had to admit to herself it was a little excessive "did you really need 7 bottles of wine"

"We might run out" Danny said causing Rachel to laugh

When they were back in the car, they expected to find the girls awake however they were both still sound asleep.

Ellie eventually woke up once they were back at the villa however Alice was still asleep

"Mum why are we home" Ellie asked "I thought we were going to the supermarket"

"Oh we've already been, you two have been asleep ages" Rachel said laughing

"What did you do with us then" Ellie asked

"Left you in the car"

"Well that was nice" Ellie said sarcastically

"Well you wouldn't have appreciated being woken would you"

Rachel decided to carry Alice in and let her have a rest for a little while on her bed before tea.

They had a relaxing evening together however after such a busy day everyone was feeling really tired so they all had a reasonably early night.

Please review and suggest ideas xxxxxxxx


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Hey just a quick note to say thanks to Rachelmasonfan for the idea, it was so nice of you to let me use this and also to address a couple of guest reviews I've had. To the guest who was asking why I never do reddie, never really been a reddie fan so find it hard to write them well and always make Eddie seem a lot weirder and nastier than he probably ever was, tried it once and ended up killing Eddie off because I couldn't write him well lmfaoo so thought it was best if I just steered clear, but don't mind Eddie as much as I used to so might one day try and do some reddie and also the guest who wanted more clear storylines, understand completely where you're coming from, i just wanted to do a few casual chapters as having a new idea for each chaoter is a little tricky and don't want to run the risk of my fics being too over dramatic as I've never enjoyed ones like that myself, but will try my best to have a clear storyline for each chapter xx

The next morning soon came round and for once Alice was having a lie in so that meant that Rachel and Danny could have a bit of free time to themselves to just have a chat and a coffee in bed before they had to get up.

Rachel always did enjoy having a relax on a morning however with a 6 year old kid this could often be very difficult, so she did appreciate any opportunity she did get to lie in.

They hadn't decoded exactly what they wanted to do today because there were so many different places to see so it was difficult to choose, in the end Danny and Rachel had agreed to let the girls choose where to go.

"This is nice isn't it" Rachel said cuddling up to Danny

"It certainly is darling" Danny said

The two of them always loved each other's company, they felt really happy and relaxed together and it felt as though they'd known each other forever.

"When do you reckon Alice will wake up?"

"Soon" Danny said laughing they knew that there was no way Alice would be prepared to let them lie in past 9.

After a while Rachel decided to get up out of bed

"Oi where are you going" Danny said

"To the bathroom"

"Why? Stay in bed a bit longer" Danny begged

"No I need the loo" Rachel said

Despite Danny's protests Rachel headed to the bathroom, however when she was inside she e realised her stomach was hurting quite a bit, she thought this might be because she was due her period.

Rachel couldn't quite remember exactly when she was due on, however it felt like ages since she'd last been on so assumed it would be round about now. When she started to think about it properly though she realised she was last on her period in the last week of term, and if she remembered correctly this was 5 and a half weeks ago now, meaning her period was quite a bit late. She'd also been feeling tired a lot recently and been feeling really sick on the morning, at first she hadn't thought much of it but now it was starting to click.

Suddenly Rachel began to feel dizzy as realisation began to settle in, she was never late on her period, so could it be possible then that she could be pregnant. Rachel ran her hands through her hair, feeling incredibly worried all of a sudden, as much as she loved children and wanted to have more someday she knew that this wasn't the right time in her life to have a baby, she had only just come to terms with the loss of Chris and she knew how much the girls were still hurting so now just wouldn't be right .

She sat on the toilet seat feeling sick with worry, her and Danny were always so careful and always took precautions, however there had been been one instance about 2 weeks ago when they were both pretty drunk after they'd gone out and they hadn't used contraception, at the time they were both sure they would be fine however now Rachel was beginning to seriously doubt this.

"Rach are you okay in there?" Danny asked as Rachel had been in the toilet for a good 5 minutes

"Yep" Rachel shouted back, she really wasn't feeling up to telling Danny about it yet, she knew although he'd never admit it that he wanted kids of his own and one and would secretly be thrilled if he knew, but for Rachel it just wasn't right, she decided to get a pregnancy test first and find out for sure before she told him anything.

Another couple of minutes passed and Rachel still hadn't come out she had out the seat down on the toilet and was just sat there trying to think things through.

"Rachel are you sure you're okay?" Danny called beginning to get a little concerned for his girlfriend

Rachel's sighed before quickly opening the door

"For gods sake am I not allowed 5 minutes peace" see snapped

"You were longer than 5 minutes what were you doing in there, delivering a baby" Danny joked

"I was on the bloody toilet, Is that not allowed now or something"

Danny was a little taken a back by Rachel's sudden change in mood, she had seemed absolutely done before and in a really nice mood, he wondered what had happened to make her feel like this all of a sudden.

"Alright you just seemed to be in a while that's all"

"So you've said, now I'm going to go and get dressed, well unless you're going to start telling my name if I don't come back within 30 seconds"

"Bloody hell Rachel is there any need to bite my head off what the hells happened" Danny said a little bit puzzled

"Nothing" Rachel said before grabbing her clothes and going into the bathroom again to get changed and rub her suncream in.

All Rachel really fancied doing was going back to bed however she knew there was no way she could, but one thing she really couldn't be doing with today was going round a theme park, although normally Rachel loved them every bit as much as the girls did today it was the last thing she fancied doing.

Rachel came out a few minutes later, now fully clothed

"Danny I want to just have a day around the Vila today" Rachel said

"Why? I thought we said we'd let the girls choose" Danny asked

"Well it's not just there holiday is it?" Rachel said and Danny picked up in the edge in her voice "and we said we'd have a few relaxing days didn't we?"

"But Rachel it's only the second day, the girls Will be disappointed if ..."

"Well there going to have to live with it aren't they, the two of them need to learn they can't have it there own way all the time" Rachel snapped, she knew she wasn't being fair to Danny in the slightest, after all he'd done nothing wrong but she felt so stressed and this always made her snappy and irritable, in fact Rachel could be a absolute nightmare to live with when she was feeling like this and she knew it !

"Fine if that's what you want" Danny sighed not wanting an argument with Rachel because when she was in a mood like this he knew there was no way he'd win !

"Well it's clearly not what you want is it?" Rachel snapped

"Well no I wanted to have a nice day out with the girls but you know what If you want to stay here then we'll do that"

"You take the girls by yourself and I'll stay"

"Rachel what's up" Danny sighed

"You going to keep asking me that all day as well"

"Well you just seem really ..." Danny paused trying to think of the least offensive way to describe Rachel's horrendous mood "het up, is it ...you know wrong time if the month or something"

"That's not the only reason a woman might be in a bit of a bad mood you know, does it never occur to you that sometimes perhaps maybe there just a bit angry and it hasn't got anything to do with there bloody hormones"

Danny rolled his eyes and sighed before leaving the room, not really wanting to listen to her going on a anymore as he knew he couldn't take much more of her snapping at him and if she continued to do it he'd end of snapping straight back and 9 times out of 10 this would lead to a big row between the two of them, and it wasn't fair on the girls to have to listen go that today.

Danny decided to wake the girls up as he knew they wouldn't be too happy about not going out today but thought it was best if he broke the news to them instead of Rachel.

"Alice time to wake up" Danny said gently

After a while Alice opened her eyes and sat up but when she did she immediately began to cry

"What's wrong Alice" Danny said a little shocked, he hated to see Alice upset over the last few months he'd almost began to feel as though he was her dad

"I need mummy" Alice cried

"Well mummy isn't feeling too well at the moment I think she feels a bit poorly, why don't you tell me what's upsetting you"

However Alice wouldn't tell him and just continued to cry so Danny realised he'd have to get Rachel but prayed she'd be nicer to Alice than she had to him

"Rach Alice is upset she wants you" Danny said

"Well can you not see to her" Rachel sighed knowing she wasn't in the right frame of mind to deal with an upset 6 year old

"She wouldn't say"

Rachel sighed but went up and made her way to Alice's room

"What's up love" Rachel asked trying her best to stay calm so she wouldn't end up snapping at Alice as she knew how much this would upset her

"Mummy i had dream about daddy again, I thought he was here with us but I woke up and Danny was there and I really don't feel very well my tummy hurts"

Rachel sat down on her daughters bed and put her arms around her, although she was in a horrible mood she knew she couldn't snap at Alice.

"Come on it's okay" Rachel soothed "daddy would just be glad you're having a nice time wouldn't he huh?"

Alice nodded her head but she still had tears in her eyes

"Now I'll get some tissues so you can dry your eyes" Rachel said going in Alice's bathroom and getting some toilet paper that she could use to dry her eyes.

Although Alice didn't feel as upset as she did before, she didn't feel as comforted as she would normally after she'd spoken to Rachel. Normally Rachel would stay with her a while to make sure she was okay.

Once Alice had dried her eyes she began to feel even more sick than she had before, she was about to dart out of her bed and go to the toilet but she didn't make it in time and was sick all over her bed.

"Oh for gods sake" Rachel muttered under her breath "could you not have gone to the toilet if you felt sick" she sighed, although her voice was no where near as harsh as it had been to Danny earlier it still have Alice a shock as she wasn't used to her mum getting cross with her about things she couldn't really help, normally she was so nice about it.

"I'm sorry mummy" Alice said tears forming in her eyes again

Rachel sighed trying to calm herself down again

"Come on jump up" she said

Alice got up and Rachel quickly changed the sheet on it, while Alice put a summer dress on before going and sitting in the lounge.

About 15 minutes later everyone was sat round having breakfast

"What are we doing today then" Ellie asked

"Having a quiet day round the villa" Rachel replied instantly

"What are you joking? We want to go to the theme parks" Ellie moaned

"Well it's not all about what you want is it" Rachel Said "besides your sisters not feeling well, she was sick everywhere"

This caused Alice to blush as she hadn't really wanted everyone finding out as she did feel a bit embarrassed about being sick

"But mum we haven't come to Florida to sit around here all day"

"I'm sorry whose paying for this holiday"

"You and Danny, so therefore Danny should get a say in it too" Ellie argued "Danny what do you want to do today"

Danny didn't know what to say, to be honest he did side with girls and thought Rachel was being completely unfair for behaving like this, but he knew that now wasn't a good time to point this out

Rachel knew that she wasn't going to win and couldn't be doing with everyone having a go at her all day because she'd wanted to stop in.

"You know what fine, we'll go to the flaming theme park, never mind what i want as long as everyone else is happy" Rachel snapped before getting up and stomping off

Alice felt really upset, her mum was hardly ever in a bad mood and even if she was she'd normally manage to control it around the girls.

Danny noticed how upset and shocked Alice looked so sat her down on his knee

"Is mummy okay? Should I go and see her" Alice asked however actually she didn't really want to see her mum right now as she was feeling a bit scared of her.

"I think she's just not feeling her best love, just give her some time" Danny said

The girls finished there breakfast, more or less in silence as they both felt a little uneasy after their mums outburst at the table.

Afterwards Danny decoded to go and talk some sense into Rachel as if she kept this up for the entire day none of them were going to have a very pleasant day.

When Danny walked into there room he found Rachel sat up on there bed resting against the headboard

"Now what's up"

"Nothing"

"God you're like a stroppy teenager today, i bet if I sent you to miss masons office she'd have a few words to say to you" Danny said

He was trying to lighten the mood a bit but it didn't seem to be working

"Rach come on talk to me, you were fine this morning until you disappeared off into the toilet"

"Look I'm fine, come on let's go"

Danny sighed but realised there wasn't a lot he could say to Rachel so decided to just leave her to it, knowing Rachel she'd be over her little mood in a couple of hours time.

They all got in the car, the girls had decided they wanted to go to Epcot today so Danny was driving there now.

All the way there the girls were chatting together and Danny was trying to get Rachel to talk how beer she would only reply with one word responses so after a while gave up and just decided to drive.

Eventually they got there so the all got out and went through the entry gates with there tickets.

Once they were inside the girls walked ahead a little bit and started looking round at everything, meaning that Danny and Rachel were left alone.

Under normal circumstances they would taken hold of each other's hand and enjoyed each other's company however today things were quite different, Danny prayed Rachel wouldn't keep this up for much longer as he didn't know how much more he could take of her being like this.

They decided to go on one of the boat rides first. As it was still quite early the queue was relatively small so they got on more or less straight away.

"Mummy whys it gone in the dark I'm scared"

"You'll be fine" Rachel said half heartedly

All Rachel felt like doing was going back to bed, in some ways she felt really awful for being such a pain but she couldn't seem to help It today she was just so worried and stressed out.

A couple of hours passed and Rachel's mood hadn't improved at all and everyone was getting tired of it

"Mummy I need a wee" Alice whispered when they were in the queue for a ride

"Well what do you want me to do? Pull out of the queue we've already been waiting a good a half hour in"

"But I'm desperate"

"Well you're going to have to behave like a grown up girl and wait aren't you" Rachel sighed

"But I can't, I'll have an accident"

"For gods sake your 6 years old your not a baby any more" Rachel snapped

Alice face crumpled and she fought hard to hold back the tears, she hated her mum being like this to her, it was so unlike anything she was used to.

"Don't talk to her like that" Danny said stepping in

"Don't you tell me how I can and can't talk to my own daughter thank you very much"

By now a few people were giving them funny looks but Rachel just ignored them

"I'll take her, you know I've never known anyone be so selfish as you're being today, why don't you just sod off back to the villa if you're going to ruin everyone's day" Danny said finally loosing his cool.

"Fine I'll do just that, I'll see you all back at the villa" Rachel said

Rachel then walked off leaving Danny and the kids feeling bewildered, Danny hadn't actually intended for her to go off like that, he had just meant it as a warning.

Rachel quickly left the park and got in a taxi.

When she was on the way back she started to realise how unreasonable she'd actually been and felt terrible for it.

When they got to the villa she quickly paid the driver before going straight in and laying down on her bed.

Much to her surprise Rachel then found herself beginning to cry, Rachel hardly ever cried but she just felt so emotional today.

Rachel had just been at the villa for around half an hour or so when suddenly she heard the door open, she was quite shocked as she wasn't expecting everyone back for 3 or 4 hours.

"Girls go and play in the pool a while, Ellie make sure you keep an eye on Alice" Rachel heard Danny say

"I want to see mummy, I don't want her to be sad" Alice cried

"I'm going to see your mum, but then I'm sure she'd love to see you"

A couple of minutes later Rachel heard Danny coming so hastily tried to wipe away her tears.

Danny was shocked when he saw Rachel sat on the bed, the red rings around her eyes making it obvious she'd been crying

"Hey darling what's wrong" Danny asked gently before going and sitting by her.

"I'm sorry" Rachel said sounding small "I've been a pain in the arse, but i really am sorry"

"Look it's okay, I know it can be hard for you around your period, you always feel rough before it don't you?"

"It's not my bloody period" Rachel sobbed

"Well what is it then"

Rachel thought for a moment but realised she'd have to tell Danny sooner or later so thought it may as well be now

"I'm pregnant" Rachel whispered

"What? Really but how" Danny asked completely confused but pleased at the same time

"What do you mean how ? You need to be sent back to year 6 sex ed" Rachel said however for the first time today a small smile crept across her face

"Are you really that upset about it?" Danny asked

"Not upset exactly" Rachel said but then she started crying "I'm sorry it's just it's something I really wasn't expecting and I just ... I just don't think at the moment I could give a baby all the love it needs what with Chris and everything"

"Oh Rachel" Danny said wrapping his arms around her "remember a baby takes 9 months to arrive, do you not think you might be more ready by then?"

Rachel thought about this for a second and after she did she realised that actually it might not be as bad as she thought it would be, after all 9 months was a long time. It was the first time today that Rachel had actually thought about this from a positive perspective and now she did she felt a lot calmer about the whole situation

"I can't believe I'm going to be a dad" Danny said

"Well I haven't actually done a test yet" Rachel admitted

"What ..." Danny said his face falling

"Well it only just started to make sense this morning, I haven't had the chance yet have I?"

"Right well we'll go out right now and get one I'll round the girls up and ..."

"Hang on the supermarkets just 5 minutes ago I really don't think we need to make a family event of it, I'll go you keep an eye on the girls"

"I can go if you want"

"You'll come back with a bottle thinking it's a test knowing you" Rachel joked

A few minutes later Rachel was driving to the supermarket, thoughts were whizzing round her head, she'd been so against the idea at first but now she'd thought about it properly maybe she was actually getting used to the idea and was actually a little excited, to be a mum to another child would be incredible.

Rachel quickly went in and bought the test before heading off back.

Once she was inside she went to the bathroom and carried out the instructions.

The Next few minutes seemed to drag considerably. Eventually it was time to turn it over, Rachel took a deep breath and looked and saw it was negative.

Rachel didn't know what to think in some ways she was relieved but then since she'd come round to the idea of being pregnant the thought of having another kid really had been a nice one.

"Well" Danny said the minute Rachel stepped outside

"Negative" Rachel replied

Although Danny was disappointed he still went over and wrapped his arms around Rachel

"I'm sorry I know how much you wanted this"

"Hey it's okay, I have you and I have the girls what more could a man possibly want"

"Well maybe this has shown us that ... Perhaps now is the right time to start to try for a baby"

"Really" Danny sod sounding very excited about the whole thing

"Yeah well we'd have to talk some more, but I think it is time to consider it" Rachel said

"Oh I didn't think we need to bother with that, why don't we start trying right now" Danny said

Rachel laughed but sat up

"Nope it'll have to wait till later I need to see the girls, why did you come back so early then"

"Girls were worried about you, you were acting like a complete psycho"

.Rachel pretended to be offended but couldn't keep it up for long and burst out laughing

She then went over to the pool were the girls were playing

Alice jumped straight out and went to see her mum

"Mummy are you okay"

"Yes darling I'm so sorry about before I was being horrible wasn't i?"

"It's okay mummy" Alice said

Rachel then picked Alice up in her arms despite her being soaking

"Now I'm very sorry for ruining today, but I'm going to take you out tonight for a really nice meal to make up for it"

The girls were both excited about this as they both loved going to nice places to eat.

The day seemed to fly by and before long they were all nearly ready to go out

"Mummy I can't get this dress over my head" Alice said

Rachel stopped doing her makeup and went over to help her

"There you look lovely now darling"

"Can I wear some makeup mummy"

"No love" Rachel said laughing

"Why"

"Because make ups for when you're all old and wrinkly like me, not for little girls"

Alice stopped with her mum as she finished her makeup and got her dress on.

They all looked very nice for going out, if anyone saw them now they would look like the perfect happy family, quite different from what they must have looked like earlier.

Once they were sat down at there table Rachel and Danny decided to get a bottle of wine to share

"Mum please can I try some" Ellie begged

Rachel rolled her eyes but poured a tiny bit in a glass for her daughter

Ellie felt very grown up sipping it however when she tried it she nearly spat it straight back out

"That's vile" Ellie said in disgust

"See I told you, you'd hate it" rachel said laughing

"Can I try some too mummy"

"Oh I don't think I could cope with two drunken daughters in one night" Rachel joked

About 10 minutes later the waiter came so they all ordered there food.

Suddenly however Alice's tummy began to hurt like it had done earlier when she woke up

"Mummy my tummy hurts again" Alice whispered

"Well I need to go to the loo anyway so why don't you come with me, just in case you're going to be sick again"

Alice immediately for up

"I'll come too mum"

"Oh that's nice so I'm abandoned am I?" Danny joked

The three of them then went into the loos which were completely empty

Ellie and Rachel went and then came out and washed there hands

"Do you think Alice is okay" Ellie asked

"I'm sure she'll be fine, all the crap she's been eating since we've been in America is enough to give anyone a dodgy stomach though"

It was true in America it really was extremely difficult not to eat rubbish when it was around every corner

"Mum are you okay now" Ellie asked

"yeah I'm fine, I really am so sorry about before, I just felt like rubbish got myself in a bit of a mood about something and well took it out on everyone I came into contact with"

"What were you in a mood about"

"Oh nothing for you to be worrying yourself about" Rachel Said before putting her arm around Ellie

They waited a couple more minutes but Alice still hadn't come out

"Alice are you okay" Rachel called "Ellie go and wait with Danny me and Alice will be out soon I'm sure"

Ellie then went off and after waiting a few more minutes Alice came out looking really pale

"Oh dear you don't look very well" Rachel sighed

"I've got a really bad tummy"

"Do you feel well enough to come back to the table"

Alice nodded her head

"Okay but go easy on the food and if you feel like you need to go to the loo just get up and go, don't feel like you've got to tell me"

"Okay"

Alice and Rachel then went back to the table.

They all had a really nice meal together, however Alice really wasn't feeling right so they finished up leaving quite early and as soon as they got back to the villa Rachel got her straight to bed, hoping she'd feel better for tomorrow

Please review xxxxxxx


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

It was the day after they'd come back from there holidays and no one was particularly glad to be home as they'd had such a lovely time away but now they were back to reality. Danny had gone out for the day to watch a match and was planning on getting a hotel and staying the night with a few of his mates seeing as he would be back very late so didn't want to disturb everyone.

Ellie had gone out with a few of her friends an hour or so ago so it was just Alice and Rachel at home. Rachel had been very busy getting everything unpacked so Alice was starting to get a bit bored however luckily Rachel was more or less done now.

Rachel walked into the living room and saw Alice with a big bar of chocolate next to her which she kept eating as she was doing some drawing.

"Alice please don't eat the whole of that chocolate, because I'm not buying you anymore for at least another week, you've had way too much rubbish In America" Rachel said

It was true even Rachel had let her diet slip while she'd been away, it was so hard not to while you were over there, as there was food around every corner you turned.

"Mummy do you like my drawing" Alice said holding it up to show her mum

Rachel squinted at it trying to work out what it actually was, but then she realised Alice had drawn a picture of them all and then a picture of there house.

"That's lovely Alice" Rachel said "but why have you coloured my face in with a brown pen and everyone else's pink"

"Because you've gone the brownest on holiday" Alice replied

Rachel laughed before kissing her daughter on the head, however then she noticed something else on Alice's picture.

"Darling why have you drawn a dog?" Rachel asked

"Well because you said I could get a dog when I'm seven mummy and I looked on my special calendar today and I'm 7 In 2 months and 18 days and that isn't that long away so I thought I'd just add it in my picture anyway"

Rachel sighed, once when Alice was about four and wouldn't stop going on about getting a dog she promised she could get one when she was 7 thinking this seemed quite a while off and Alice would probably forget all about it by then. However unluckily for Rachel Alice had remembered and wouldn't drop it.

"Well we'll have to see about that won't we" Rachel said

"Mum I'm bored" Alice moaned

"Well why don't we go out for a bit, Ellie isn't back for another few hours, I know this probably won't appeal to you but we could do with going into town, I haven't bought any of your new school stuff yet and you need loads and I've noticed you've barely got any clothes you can wear just for day to day"

Surprisingly Alice seemed to quite like the idea of going into town and Rachel thigh it would be good to get at least one of there uniforms done, she knew Ellie would be a lot harder to sort out but she decided to leave that for another day, as she didn't think she could handle the stress of dragging Ellie round the shops and having countless arguments over what was and wasn't appropriate school wear.

Alice got in Rachel's car and they quickly drove into town.

They were about half way there when Rachel suddenly realised Alice hadn't put her seatbelt on

"Alice get that seatbelt on right now" Rachel said sounding quite stern

Alice jumped and quickly put it on

"Alice it's dangerous not to put it on what If a policeman had seen you or worse we'd have been involved in a crash, you'd have gone flying through the windscreen"

Hearing her mum sound quite strict made Alice start to cry as she hated it when her mum shouted at her

"Hey don't get upset, I was just warning you not to do it in future that's all love" Rachel so as her voice considerably softer now

"I'm sorry mummy"

"It's okay love"

They drove the rest if the way into town and then both got out.

"Right I need to nip into next first and get a few bits and pieces for when I go back to work, but I shouldn't be too long but be a good girl and just stay with me okay, don't wander off anywhere"

Rachel took hold of Alice's hand and walked in with her, Rachel always did like looking round next, especially for work stuff as they had lots of nice smart tops and skirt, however she always found the stuff was quite comfy.

She saw a couple of pencil skirts she really liked so picked them up and put them in her basket, she then also saw some nice blouses so put them in too.

"Mummy that's a nice top why don't you get that" Alice said picking up a really small black crop top, the type you'd wear if you were going clubbing.

Rachel laughed when she saw what Alice had hold of

"Lovely as that is I doubt I'd get taken very seriously trying to run an assembly wearing that"

Rachel then went over to the underwear department and got herself a few new bras, however this caused Alice to laugh

"What are you laughing at?"

"You're buying bras" Alice said giggling

"Well spotted, I don't think there's really any need to announce it to the whole shop though" Rachel said

"But it's funny"

"Why? I don't start laughing when we're buying your knickers do I?"

"No" Alice said

"Right I need to try these on, so come on let's go through to the changing rooms"

Alice sighed beginning to get a bit bored and wanting to move on from this shop.

"When are we going mummy?"

"As soon as I've tried these on and paid"

"You said we were getting my school stuff not yours"

"Yeah and we will do, I've only been 5 minutes in here"

Rachel went through to the changing rooms and got a big one so Alice could come in with her, she had considered leaving her outside but she didn't really trust her not to walk off.

She quickly tried them on while Alice sat on the little seat swinging her legs.

Once Rachel had checked all her stuff fitted her well she paid for it and went out.

"Mummy please can I get some more toys"

"I think you've got more than enough toys at the moment, we need to concentrate on getting your school stuff"

They started off in Clark's by getting Alice's feet measured and then getting her some new shoes

"Can I wear them now mum" Alice asked once they were out the shop

"No darling there for school"

"But I really like them, they've got flashy lights on that light up when I stomp my feet"

"Yeah I did notice and I don't know what on earth your new teachers going to say about that though I doubt she'll be particularly approving"

They spent a while longer going round all the shops but then they both got a bit tired and Rachel

Had got Alice pretty much everything she needed so decided to do the rest another day.

They were on the car on the way back home when Alice said "mum how many weeks is it till I go back to school"

"2 weeks on Monday love"

"I wish it was longer"

"I'm sure by the time it's going back to school time you'll be more ready to go back but for now we can just concentrate in enjoying the rest of the holiday can't we"

"I hate school though"

"Don't be silly, you don't hate school, you're doing well In all your lessons and judging by all the girls i have knocking on our door asking for you to come and play with them, you've got lots of friends"

"Yes but it's still boring I'd rather be at home playing with friends"

"Well just wait till you start secondary school, you'll wish you could be back in primary school"

"I bet I won't" Alice mumbled

Rachel didn't respond but smiled to herself knowing Alice would soon change her mind over the next few years.

Once they were home again Rachel parked up and Alice ran inside

Rachel then decided to make a start on the ironing as she still had quite a bit to do.

She was about half way through her ironing when she heard the door slam.

Alice went to the door first before Rachel could get there and Alice saw Ellie come in with tears streaming down her face.

"What's wrong Alice"

"Shut up" Ellie said

Alice then tried to wrap her arms around Ellie as she hated it when she looked upset

"I said shut up you little ..." Ellie screamed grabbing Alice and pushing her back

It was at this moment that Rachel came in and saw what was going on, ellie hadn't meant to push Alice that hard but she'd finished up falling right back and hitting her head and now she was in floods of tears

"Hey" Rachel shouted immediately rushing over "what the hell have you done"

"I didn't mean it alright"

"I saw you push her" Rachel said "get upstairs right now, go on"

"Fine" Ellie screamed

"And don't raise you're voice at me" Rachel shouted back she could clearly see something had upset Ellie a lot to get her this angry however regardless of what had happened there was no way Rachel was going to let her off this,

"Stupid bitch" Ellie muttered under her breath, Rachel didn't quite hear what she said but she got a pretty good idea and she wasn't going to stand for it

She grabbed Ellie's shoulders forcing her to turn round

"What did you just call me"

"Nothing"

"Well if I ever hear you say anything similar aimed at me ... Believe me you're going to regret it"

Ellie rolled her eyes before stomping upstairs and slamming her bedroom door shut so fiercely it seemed to echo through the house

Rachel watched her going upstairs her arms folded beneath her chest as she shook her head at her daughter

However she was quick to turn her attention to Alice who was on the floor crying

"Come on darling stand up"

Alice took her mums hand and quickly stood up as tears ran down her face

Rachel led her through to the kitchen and sat her down on one of the chairs

"Now where did you bang your head against when she oh she'd you"

"Right against the radiator"

"Oh god you're very lucky there doesn't seem to be any real damage I've seen people smash their head open doing exactly that"

"It really hurts" Alice sobbed

Rachel decided to have a look, just to check Alice was basically alright

"Right I'm just going to have a look at your head, I'm going to try my very hardest to make sure it doesn't hurt"

Rachel lifted Alice's long hair up and tried to have a proper look.

At first she couldn't really see anything so presumed Alice was fine however on closer inspection she realised there was actually quite a bad lump on her head and a lump was already forming

Rachel knew she shouldn't tell Alice that it actually looked pretty nasty as knowing Alice this would really panic her

"You do look like you've got a cut and by the looks of it you're going to have an egg on your head"

Rachel went or the freezer in the garage trying to find an ice lack however she didn't have any luck and couldn't see any so decided to settle on a bag of frozen peas.

She went back into the kitchen and held it gently against the back of Alice's head

"That's freezing"

"I know but it'll help to reduce all the swelling" Rachel explained

She kept it against her daughters head for a few minutes

"Now will you do me a favour and keep that on"

Alice reached behind her head and help the cold bag against it,

Rachel pulled a chair across and sat right in front of Alice, deciding to ask her a few questions to check she hadn't got concussion or anything serious.

"Alice do you feel dizzy at all"

"Yes a little bit" Alice said before starting to cry

"How many fingers am I holding up" Rachel asked holding four fingers in the air, she wanted to check Alice hadn't got double vision as she knew this was a common symptom of concussion.

"Four"

Rachel asked Alice a few more questions

Although Alice seemed basically okay just a little shaken up, Rachel decided it was best if she got Alice checked out at the emergency medical centre about 5 miles away from her house.

"Alice I'm going to take you to the medical centre"

"Why am I really poorly" Alice asked instantly getting worried

"No darling I don't think so but it's just better to be on the safe side and besides they can clean your cut up better than I can"

Alice quickly got her coat on, as did Rachel.

Rachel quickly shouted down to Ellie that she and Alice were going to the medical centre however she didn't get a response so assumed Ellie was just taking some time to calm down.

Although Rachel was still furious with Ellie for coming in the way she did, she was concerned about what had got her so upset and angry and she knew full well that Ellie would be worried sick about Alice now, after all Rachel was almost one hundred percent sure it had never been Ellie's intention to hurt Alice she'd just been trying to get out of her way.

"Mummy Ellie came in crying" Alice told Rachel

"I know love, I'm sure she's very, very sorry for hurting you"

"I don't think she meant to, I just slipped when she pushed me"

"Well it was still very naughty of her and I'll be having some serious words when we get home"

"Why was she so upset mummy?"

"I don't know love, but what you really have got to remember is that your sister is at a really difficult age at the moment and she'll have a lot of stuff to deal with, stuff that at the moment you don't have to go through thank god, but that's why sometimes Ellie gets so angry and snappy it's not that she's actually annoyed at you"

Rachel thought it was important for her to explain this to Alice as there had been quite a few occasions recently where Ellie would snap quite badly at Alice and Alice would finish up getting really upset over it.

Ellie snapped at Rachel quite a bit to, however having worked with teenagers for nearly 17 years Rachel knew to let it all fly over her head and not let it get it her, as there was a big difference between what teenagers said and what they actually meant

"But I don't get why she gets so annoyed all the time"

"Well like I said she's a teenager they've got a lot of rubbish going on, it's not nice you know all this growing up lark, but that still doesn't excuse her behaviour I know"

It didn't take them long to reach the medical centre however there was quite a long wait.

"Mum I need the toilet"

Rachel sighed not wanting to get up and loose there place but knowing Alice, they didn't really have a choice

"Well there on,y through their why don't you go by yourself"

"Okay" Alice soda getting up and waiting in the queue

Rachel was surprised normally Alice would make her go everywhere with her even if it was just to the toilet while they were out and about places.

However it was lucky Rachel hadn't gone because while Alice was in there, her name was called.

Rachel got up and spoke to the doctor telling her Alice would be a couple of minutes

Soon Alice came back and the two of them went straight in.

The doctor did a few routine checks just to check Alice wasn't in any risk before cleaning her wound up and allowing them to go.

By the time they were home again, Alice was feeling considerably better.

Alice's head was still hurting a little bit but wasn't bleeding anymore and she no longer had a real headache.

Rachel decided to go and speak to Ellie now hoping she'd calmed down a bit.

She made two cups of coffee, knowing a warm drink was something Ellie always appreciated when she was angry or upset.

When she was on her way up Rachel wondered how she should play this, on one hand she knew that what Ellie had done was wrong so she should be punished accordingly however on the other hand she was worried about Ellie and knew if she started telling her off and shouting at her Ellie would most likely just close up to her.

Rachel knocked on Ellie's door, this was quite difficult when she was holding two cups of coffee however she did manage it; Rachel knew how much Ellie hated it when she just came in.

"Yeah?'

"It's mum can I come in"

"Yeah"

When Rachel walked in she saw Ellie laid on her bed, she'd clearly been crying as there were red rings around her eyes

"Is Alice okay"

"No thanks to you she's fine, she's got a pretty nasty cut though" Rachel said as she sat down in the chair next to her daughters bed and put the coffee on the table

"Mum I'm so sorry"

"Is it really me you should be apologising to? I'd have thought it would be your sister"

Ellie began to cry again feeling genuinely awful at the thought of hurting her sister, who despite arguing with her a lot and complaining about how annoying she was, she loved very much

"Come in don't cry"

"I can't help it. I feel so awful"

"Well I'm sure Alice will get over it"

"She was only trying to be nice to me" Ellie sobbed

"Well she was worried about you, as am I actually, what happened earlier"

"You wouldn't understand" Ellie said

Rachel sighed this was a sentence that came out of her daughters mouth quite a lot when she asked her what was the matter

"Go on try me"

"You'll just say I'm being stupid and I need to grow up"

"When have I ever said that to you"

Ellie paused but then decided to give her mum a chance but she really didn't think she was going to take her seriously

"I really like this boy who's in the same year as me and he's in the boys division, well we were talking and he was there with us today when we met up and I really thought he liked me but then he got off with Louise whose this slag in my old school, I saw them they hid in the park but we found them and they were snogging, she only did it to make me angry"

"Oh love" Rachel said wrapping her arms round Ellie

Rachel knew how much this type of thing could upset girls Ellie's age so could understand why she was angry

"Darling I know you're probably going to roll your eyes but I do know how you feel" Rachel said "but what I also know and again you probably roll your eyes but you are too young to be having boyfriends, there's plenty of time for that but for now at least just enjoy having bits as friends"

"I know you're right but I did really like him and Louise is just a stupid bitch"

"Can we not say stupid bitches please, I've heard that enough for one day, although I chose to block my ears out I'm almost certain that's exactly eat you called me earlier" Rachel said causing Ellie to smile slightly

"Sorry mum"

"Okay"

"I wish I was old enough for a boyfriend"

"Oh darling there not all there cracked up to be, they cause you more stress than there worth trust me I've been there"

"How old were you"

"When I had my first boyfriend?"

Ellie nodded her head in response

"Too young to properly remember but I was around 13"

"That isn't that much older than me" Ellie protested

"Like I said I was too young"

"Well I suppose I don't mind waiting"

"Good girl"

Rachel then wrapped her arms round Ellie and gave her a much needed cuddle

Please review xxxxx


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

This is set a month later do the girls have gone back to school

It was a Friday and Ellie and Rachel had finished school and were on the way to pick Alice up from her after school group. They'd been back a week now and although at first they hadn't enjoyed the early starts and school all day now they seemed to be back to there usual routine and weren't minding it too much.

It didn't take too long for Rachel to arrive at the school so she got out the car straight away as they were already quite a bit late, she rushed over and saw Alice waiting.

"Hey darling did you have a good day?" Rachel said picking the little girl up in her arms and starting to walk back to the car.

"No" Alice said sounding grumpy

"Why not love"

"I don't like my new teacher she shouts at me for no reason" Alice said

Rachel opened the door for Alice and let her in before going back in the car.

"Well I'm sure she has her reasons" Rachel said although she had to admit she much preferred Alice's old teacher to her new one who seemed a bit grumpy and not particularly caring

"What's happened" Ellie asked wondering what her mum and sister were talking about

"Oh she's in a mood because of her new teacher"

Ellie rolled her eyes and looked out the window, she couldn't imagine what is was like to be Alice's age again and only having such small things to worry about

"She shouted at me just for talking"

"Well maybe you shouldn't have been talking" Rachel said

Alice didn't seem to stop talking the entire journey back and Rachel was quite glad when they pulled up on the drive and they all got out.

However when Alice was walking to the door Rachel noticed she was walking a little strangely

"Alice are your feet hurting"

"No but my toes are there all squished up"

"Well they shouldn't be we got you some new shoes just 3 weeks ago" Rachel said

"But they hurt"

"Well you said they were fine when you tried them on in the shop" Rachel sighed exasperated

She was getting fed up of having to keep buying new stuff because Alice would decide a few weeks after getting something she didn't like it anymore.

"But they really hurt mummy" Alice moaned

"Well why on earth didn't you tell me in the shop it would have saved me having to waste £30 on them"

"Because they didn't hurt then"

Rachel rolled her eyes however she really couldn't be bothered to continue arguing she just wanted to go in and relax.

"Hey" Danny Said as soon as he heard them all come in

"Hiya"

Rachel then went up and wrapped her arms around Danny

"Fancy a coffee" Danny asked

"You know what I would love a coffee"

Rachel then went and sat in the back room and stared out the window waiting for Danny to come in with her coffee.

A few minutes later he came back carrying two steaming mugs of coffee

"Thanks" Rachel said taking the cup

"So how's your day been"

"Not too bad, not exactly been relaxing though"

"You do look tired"

Danny then went over and started massaging Rachel's shoulders gently, something he knew she always appreciated after a hard day at school.

They'd been in there a few minutes when suddenly Alice came running in

"Mummy I need you to do the button on the back of my skirt"

"I didn't realise it had one" Rachel said

"Well the one you usually give me to wear doesn't but this one does and I can never undo it"

Rachel quickly undid the button for her so Alice went running off to finish getting changed out of her school uniform.

A couple of minutes later Rachel heard a knock at the front door so got up to answer it, wandering who it would be, normally they didn't really have many people come round on a Friday night except friends or family as if anyone was coming to see Rachel from work she'd arrange it on another night.

Rachel was surprised when she opened the door and saw her sister with tears in her eyes and her 5 year old daughter Chloe stood next to her.

"Mel what on earths happened" Rachel asked sounding really worried, she then saw Mel's 14 year old daughter Charlotte behind her and saw she was carrying a small bag full of stuff

"Can I come in" Mel asked sounding a bit frightened

"Of course you can" Rachel said

Mel and the kids both went inside and took there shoes off

"Chloe I think Alice is in her room why don't you go up and see her, the two of you can watch some tv in the playroom while I have a little chat with your mum and Charlotte Ellie's in the living room I think I know she'd love to see you"

The two girls both went off leaving Rachel and Mel alone

"Oh Mel what's happened" Rachel asked

Although Rachel and her sister didn't always see eye to eye and would often finish up having quite bad arguments, Rachel really did hate to think of her upset and right now she was feeling very concerned about her.

"Come on let's go through to the kitchen"

Mel followed Rachel through and sat down.

Danny was about to come in and say hello and sit down for a chat as he had always got on well with Mel however after seeing how upset she looked he decided it was best to leave it for now.

"Right come on what's happened"

"It's me and Paul, we've had another argument"

"Oh Mel not again, it really isn't fair on the kids you know, poor Chloe's only five she'll hate seeing you like this" Rachel sighed

Paul had been with mel for the last couple of years and in Rachel's opinion he was bad news full stop and she would avoid seeing him at all if it was possible as she always made her feel really uncomfortable.

"I know but it was more serious and I don't know what to do, we were yelling at each other and Chloe got so upset and then he started shouting at her and ... Oh god it's just been so awful"

"Oh Mel come here" Rachel said wrapping her arms around her

"The thing is I need to go back and try and sort this mess out but I don't want the kids there Rach, like you said it's not fair on them so I was kind of hoping..."

Rachel knew what she was going to say before Mel even said it

"Of course they can stop here you know there always welcome, but what about you, are you going to be okay going back there"

"Course I will" Mel said putting on a small little smile "look I need to go"

"Are you sure Mel, feel free to stay as long as you need"

"No I need to get back thanks so much for everything Rach" Mel said

She then gave her sister a brief hug before going, leaving Rachel feeling really baffled.

As soon as she'd gone Danny came back into the kitchen

"What was all that about"

"Her and Paul have and another argument, and by the sounds of it, it got pretty nasty so we're having the Kids for the night" Rachel explained

"Oh god is she okay"

"I hope so" Rachel sighed but she really did deal quite uneasy about all of this "look I'm just going to nip upstairs and check on Chloe, Mel said he started shouting at her too the poor little thing"

Rachel then went upstairs and into the playroom but saw neither of the girls were in there so went into Alice's bedroom and saw them both on the bed sat chatting

"Hey girls you both okay?"

"Go away mummy we're talking" Alice moaned

"Well I've only come to check up on you"

"But now you have can you go away" Alice said

Rachel rolled her eyes, however she knew Alice wasn't being too serious.

"Honestly Chloe she's very rude isn't she?"

Chloe started laughing at this, she always did find it funny when Alice was cheeky to her mum

"Anyway Chloe's going to be staying the night at our house so you'll have plenty of time to chat"

"Whys she staying at our house"

Rachel was about to answer, though she wasn't entirely sure how she was going to explain this as she didn't really want to bring it up in case it would make Chloe feel upset and knowing Alice she'd probably start asking questions, however Chloe answered for her.

"My mummy and Paul had a big argument"

"What were they arguing about"

"Alice just leave it love"

"Okay but can Chloe sleep in my room"

"I don't know love, she might get a better sleep if she's in one of the spare rooms"

"But she can sleep in my double bed with me"

Rachel knew this wouldn't be a good idea, from experience she knew Alice was exactly the same as Ellie as they were both very restless sleepers and if ever they came in with her she would finish up getting kicked and the cover taken off her.

"Not if she wants any chance of going to sleep, I'll get a mattress out and you can sleep on that Chloe"

"Okay" Chloe said.

Chloe was still feeling really upset and shaken up about earlier however she didn't want to admit this now or talk about what had happened.

"Right I'll leave you to it, if there's anything you need just give me a shout"

"Actually mummy there is something we need"

"And what's that?"

"Chocolate" Alice replied hopefully

She hoped her mum would give her some as she normally let her have some treats if she had someone over.

"No way you're having tea soon"

"But I'm hungry now, I only want a small bar please mummy"

Rachel rolled her eyes but knew her disinter wouldn't give up easily

"Fine I've got a box of heroes in my room and you can have a couple each okay no more"

Rachel then went and got them

A life immediately dived in and started picking ones out

"Hey that's enough?" Rachel said gently slapping her hand "do you want some love"

"No thankyou"

"Are you sure? You'll be doing me a favour by having some it'll mean there's less for that monkey to snack on" Rachel said

Both Alice and Chloe laughed at this, it was nice to see Chloe considerably happier than when she'd first walked in the door Rachel thought to herself

"I'm not hungry at the moment"

"Okay well the two of you can share these out later if you out a film in or whatever you decide to do"

Rachel then left and went back downstairs to spend a bit of time with Danny.

Ellie and Charlotte were in Ellie's bedroom going through all her films and deciding which one to watch later.

"Charlotte will you do my make up for me?" Ellie asked hopefully

Charlotte was very pretty although she didn't really have loads of confidence and was quite shy at school but she really did love spending time with Ellie even if she was a couple of years younger than she was.

"Sure, I brought my bag with me"

Charlotte then sat Ellie down and started working on her

"Does Rachel let you wear much makeup"

"Not loads but she doesn't mind me wearing a bit"

"You're lucky my mum didn't let me wearing it till I was 14"

Charlotte, although would never admit it had always been a bit jealous of Rachel's and Ellie's relationship although they would often fight they seemed to get along well still and they were so close unlike Charlotte and Mel.

Charlotte continued to do her cousins make up for a while before moving onto her hair.

After a good half hour they were done and when Ellie looked in her mirror she was very surprised at what an amazing job Charlotte had actually done.

"Girls teas ready" Rachel called

All four of the girls went downstairs and sat at the table.

Rachel hadn't bothered cooking that night and had just ordered some takeaway pizzas.

"Do you two know what time your mum wants you back tomorrow" Rachel asked the girls

"She didn't say she was in a rush" Charlotte replied

"Well if you dint have to be back early we could maybe go out tomorrow"

"Could we go swimming mum" Alice asked

Rachel laughed, Alice really did love the water and going swimming now

"You wouldn't have thought just a month or so ago you wouldn't have gone near the waiter but yeah course we can if everyone else is okay with that"

Everyone else seemed to like this idea to so that's what they decided to do, luckily both girls had spare swim stuff so they didn't need to call back at Mel's tomorrow to get stuff.

They chatted for a bit longer but Rachel noticed Chloe was being really quiet and was just nibbling her pizza,

"Is that pizza alright love, I can do you something else if you're not keen on it"

"it's really nice" Chloe said

She ate a little bit more but it was obvious she wasn't really hungry as she was just playing with it, Rachel saw this but thought she'd probably be too embarrassed to say she didn't want it

"Love if you've had enough just leave it, don't feel like you have to eat it all"

Chloe had a tiny bit more but then left it.

Soon everyone was finished so Rachel tidied up, before going into the living room where Chloe and Alice were sat

"Now it's already 7 and I want you bathed and into bed by 9 at the latest so if you're going to watch a film you better put it on now"

"But 9 is early mummy can't we stay up till 10"

"You're usual bedtimes 7:45 so how was 9 early"

"Well not early but it's not late"

"Well it's late enough now put a film on"

Alice kept arguing back about the whole bedtime thing for a while as she was desperate to stay up later like she always was, Rachel tolerated it for a while however soon Alice started to get really cheeky and Rachel got sick of her going on so sent her to her room for five minutes to calm down.

"Alice I can see you at the top of the stairs go to your room" Rachel said

While Alice was in her room Rachel helped Chloe pick out a film to watch.

"Alice you can come down now" Rachel called

Alice ran downstairs as soon as her mum said this but Rachel could tell she was in a mood.

"Hey if you're going to be all sulky you can go straight back upstairs young lady and me, Chloe and Danny will watch the film together"

"But that's not fair"

"Well stop being moody and put a smile on your face then"

"No"

Rachel sighed before going over and tickling her daughter, at first Alice tried to keep a series face but before long she was creased up laughing

"There now that'll teach you" Rachel said

"Your tickles hurt, your nails dig into me"

"Well then if you don't want to be tickled make sure you're not being all stroppy"

Alice then sat down on her mums knee and they out the film on.

Rachel was sat in the middle with Alice on her knee and Chloe and Danny on either side of her.

They all really enjoyed the film however by the end of it both girls were getting tired so Rachel took them upstairs

"Come on now you two let's get you bathed and into bed"

Rachel ran a bath and got the two of them in.

Alice immediately started splashing around however there wasn't really that much room with two of them in there.

"Alice you're getting me soaking, be a good girl and stop splashing"

Rachel then got a jug and poured hot water over both there heads before massaging shampoo into them.

"Rachel" Chloe said

"Yes love"

"Please could I give my mummy I call before I go to bed"

"Of course you can love, soon as we I've got you nice and dry yeah"

Rachel quickly finished bathing them before wrapping a towel round the pair of them

"Right there's a phone in my room you can use that to call your mum" Rachel said

Chloe sat on Rachel's bed as Rachel dialled the number in for her. Rachel waited until she was sure Mel had picked up before going out and closing the door.

"Come on then let's get your pyjamas on"

Alice quickly put her pyjama top on and was about to put her pyjama bottoms on but then said "mummy should I put one of my drynites on tonight"

Alice hadn't worn one for a couple of nights and had so far been fine but Rachel decided tonight it was best she out one on with Chloe being there

"Yeah might be a good idea just for tonight sweetheart" Rachel said

"Chloe won't know though will she"

"Course she won't"

Alice then quickly finished getting changed.

Rachel went back into her room and heard Chloe just saying goodnight to her mum

"Sorry darling I didn't mean to interrupt your chat with your mum I've just come to get the hairdryer"

"It's okay"

Rachel noticed that Chloe sounded quite subdued but didn't say anything, as she didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable

Both Chloe and Rachel then went back to Alice's room and dried off both of there hairs, which took quite a long time as both of them had long hair.

"Right it's definitely time for bed now, you both looked very tired" Rachel said "go and brush you teeth and go for a last wee and then straight to bed"

A few minutes later both girls came back

"If you want I can sleep on the mattress and you can sleep in my bed" Alice offered

"Really" Chloe said sounding really pleased as she loved how big and comfy her cousins bed was

Alice nodded her head so Chloe got in

"That was very kind of you Alice" Rachel said

"I like sleeping on the mattress it feels like I'm camping"

Rachel smiled before going over and tucking Chloe in and then Alice.

She gave them both a kiss on the forehead before getting up

"Night girls sleep well, do you want me to leave this light on for 10 minutes so you can have a chat"

Both girls were really tired now so told Rachel to turn the light off

"Well I'll leave the bathroom light on in case either of you need to get up to go to the loo in the night "Rachel said "if you need anything just come and get me, straight to sleep now though"

Once both girls had settled properly Rachel left, she was about to go and check up on Ellie and Charlotte when she heard them chatting

"Charlotte can I ask you something"

"Yep"

"Have you done anything with boys yet"

"We'll not really I mean I've snogged and stuff but that's about it"

"Oh have you ever sent pictures"

"No I wouldn't dare there's loads of girls in my year that have and they've finished up getting round the whole year in about a day, I hope you haven't"

"No but this random boy on Facebook keeps asking me for them it's really weird"

"Why don't you block him then you idiot"

"Well because he's really popular everyone at school knows him but he goes to a different school" Ellie explained

Rachel had listened to the whole of there conversation and she couldn't help but feel shocked, she couldn't believe Ellie was even thinking about this sort of thing yet and wanted to talk to her daughter straight away so opened the door

"Hey girls is everything okay"

"Yeah we were just chatting"

"Oh right, Ellie could you pop downstairs with me for a second I need to you to help me carry some stuff up for Alice and Chloe"

"Yeah sure" Ellie said "why don't you just get Danny though"

"Because I'm asking you"

Ellie sighed but followed her mum

"Come in my room I want to talk to you" Rachel said as soon as they were out of earshot from Charlotte

Ellie guessed at once that Rachel must have been outside while they were chatting and now Ellie was feeling really worried

"Want to tell me what that was about"

"What, what was about"

"Oh Ellie don't pretend you don't know what I'm on about, your little chat you were having with Charlotte just then"

Ellie sighed not really knowing what to say

"I haven't done anything wrong mum"

"Did I say you had? I was just shocked that's all"

"But mum I wouldn't dream of sending pictured not ever please don't be mad, honestly I wouldn't do it in a million years"

Rachel thought for a moment but she did believe her daughter

"Okay good I do believe you, but I don't like the idea of some boy asking you so I want you to block him and I'll be checking you have later"

"I will do promise"

"Good girl" Rachel said "anyway why were you asking charlotte about how far she'd got"

"Because I was just wondering that's all"

"Well it's her business not yours okay"

"Okay"

"Right go on then"

While Charlotte was waiting for Ellie to come back she went to the loo, however when she did she realised she must have come on her period. She sighed because she had forgotten she was due on so hadn't packed anything.

A couple of minutes later Rachel came back in with Ellie

"Do you girls want any drinks or anything bringing up"

"Can you get us some coke"

"Yep but make sure you brush you're teeth well after"

As soon as Rachel had left charlotte turned to Ellie

"Ellie I've come on my period do youse any pads or tampons on you" Charlotte asked she knew Ellie had started a couple of months ago now so hoped she would

"No I used all mine up, just ask my mum for some" Ellie said

Charlotte sighed not really wanting to ask her aunt as she thought it would be very awkward however she realised she didn't really have a lot of choice

After a while Rachel came back in with drinks

"There you go girls, I'll come and goodnight in a bit okay"

Rachel was just about to close the door when Charlotte stopped her

"Rachel"

"Yes love" Rachel said coming back in the room

Charlotte didn't really know what to say as she felt so embarrassed asking

"Do you have any erm ... You know"

"No can't say I do" Rachel said laughing not getting what her niece meant

"You know girl stuff" Charlotte asked cheeks blushing furiously

"Oh right sorry love, yeah course I do, just go through to my bathroom and in the cupboard there's plenty"

"Thanks Rach" Charlotte said before quickly darting off

A few minutes later she came back and sat down on the bed

"Did you find them?"

"Yeah thank you" Charlotte said still feeling really embarrassed about having asked her aunt for them

"Do you need any painkillers or a hot water bottle heating up"

Charlotte shook her head in response as she was worried if she asked for a painkiller Danny would see Rachel getting it and ask what it was for and her aunt might tell him

"Okay well if you change your mind there's plenty in the bathroom okay"

"Okay thanks Rach"

Rachel smiled at her before saying "I'm going to go downstairs for a bit then I'm going to bed I'll check on you before I go up, goodnight girls"

"Night" they both said

Rachel then left and shut the door behind her.

Soon Rachel and Danny decided to go to bed, Rachel had been to check on all the girls and much to her surprise she found them all fast asleep, though she was almost certain Charlotte and Ellie were just pretending.

Rachel got into bed and went to sleep more or less straight away.

However not long after Rachel was awoken by Alice prodding her

"What's up?"

" I woke up because I think Chloe's really sad because she's crying loads but she wouldn't tell me why even when I asked I don't think she wanted me to get you but she seems really sad"

"Well you've done the right thing letting me know, I'll go and have a chat with her now"

Rachel wrapped her dressing gown round herself before going into Alice's room

When she went in she heard Chloe sobbing into the pillow

Rachel rushed straight over and crouched down beside her

"Hey, sweetheart what's wrong" Rachel asked sounding very worried

Alice stood behind her mum looking really worried as Chloe continued to cry

"Come on darling let's go somewhere private, we can have a little cuddle and a chat yeah"

Chloe nodded her head so Rachel scooped the little girl up in her arms

"Alice you go back to sleep love, me and Chloe won't be long"

Alice went back to her mates though she did feel really worried about Chloe

Rachel carried Chloe into one of the spare rooms and sat down with her on her knee

"I bet you've been wanting a little cry all night haven't you"

Chloe nodded her head

"You should have told me I'd have found you somewhere quiet to go" Rachel said stroking Chloe's hair gently "nothings happened while you've been here to upset you has it"

"No"

"Are you sure because you can tell me if it has? Have you and Alice had a little argument or something"

Chloe shook her head as more tears fell down her face

"I'll just be two secs love I'm going to nip and get some tissues for you to dry your eyes"

Rachel got up and started walking to the bathroom in search of some tissues however when she was on her way she saw Charlotte come out.

"Hey darling, I'm just getting some tissues"

"Okay"

"Yours sisters really upset she's in floods of tears in the spare room"

"Oh no what's wrong with her"

Rachel grabbed the tissue before saying "I think it's about what happened at home earlier"

"Can I come with you to see her"

"Sure"

The two of them walked back across the landing before opening the door and seeing Chloe, who was still sobbing

Charlotte rushed over and wrapped her arms around her little sister as she continued to cry. Rachel just let them stay like this for a while.

"You going to tell me what's wrong sweetheart"

"I don't want to go back home tomorrow mummy and Paul argue so much and i hate it, it gets so scary and sometimes when I'm in bed all they do is shout and I try covering my ears but it doesn't help" Chloe sobbed "and I'm not supposed to tell anyone so now I'll get in big trouble because I have"

"Hey you're not going to get a trouble, I wouldn't ever let that happen" Rachel soothed

"Are things that bad at home" she asked gently guessing Chloe felt a bit uncomfortable talking about it

"Yes it's horrible I get so scared of Paul, he started shouting at me and I thought he was going to hurt me"

"You're mummy would never let that happen"

"But he's big and she's little so she's scared of him too"

"Well the last thing I want is to have you frightened, so how about you and Charlotte if she wants, stay at mine for a bit longer if that's okay with your mum. If you had a little holiday here for a week or so things might have calmed down and your mum and Paul might have sorted things out"

"Really auntie Rachel you'd let us stay here"

"Course I would you're family, I'll ring your mum tomorrow and we can have a chat about it" Rachel said "now are you going to come to bed now you must be tired"

Chloe nodded her head so Rachel lifted her up, charlottes bedroom was just outside so she went back to bed straight away.

Rachel tucked Chloe back in and stayed with her for a while "night sweetheart" she whispered

"Night auntie Rachel love you" Chloe mumbled

Please review and suggest ideas xxxxxxxx


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Hey got a review asking when I update normally, truth is it's really hard to tell you. I always tend to do an update between Monday-Friday, I'd say normally Wednesday or Thursday but this can vary a bit, however I'm starting back at sixth form this week so may not always have the chance to do my Monday-Friday update as often. However I always do a weekend update unless I'm away somewhere and if so I update as soon as I get back, I do aim to have it done by Saturday but often don't get them up until VERY late Saturday night or Sunday morning. Hope that clears it up a bit, pm me if you have any more questions.

The Monday morning soon came round and none of the girls were particularly looking forward to getting up, they'd had such a nice weekend together even though both Chloe and Charlotte seemed very down at times. After having the chat with Chloe on Friday night, Rachel and rung Mel and after a very long conversation they agreed it was best if Rachel had the girls for the next couple of weeks as this would give things a chance to calm down at home.

Danny had already left for work so Rachel had the job of getting them all ready for school, she knew this morning would be a rush, as although Charlotte went to waterloo road and therefore it was easy to drop her off, Chloe's primary school was quite far away so it meant they had to get out the house earlier than normal.

She knocked on Ellie's room before going in, but was pleasantly surprised when she saw Ellie getting ready.

"Well done love, that's one less person I have to drag out of bed" Rachel said

She went into the spare room Charlotte was staying in next, thinking If she could get the older girls out of bed first it would be best as they would take the longest amount of time getting ready.

Rachel had out Charlotte and Chloe in spare rooms last night as although she didn't mind them sharing with Ellie and Alice on weekends she knew it was important to make sure they had good night sleeps on school nights, which would be harder to do if they were together as they'd finish up chatting really late.

When Rachel walked in the room Chloe was in she saw she was fast asleep and caking her thumb still, Rachel knew she'd had a bad nights sleep again last night so felt awful waking her when she looked so peaceful.

"Chloe darling it's time to wake up"

After a while Chloe's eyes opened but when they did she immediately began to cry

"Oh dear is that what the sight if my face first thing on a morning does to you is it" Rachel joked causing Chloe to give a watery smile

"No"

"What's the matter love"

"I want my mummy" Chloe mumbled

Rachel could tell Chloe was starting to feel a bit homesick as she'd been so quiet last night and It was only natural for a girl that age, she knew how upset Alice would get if she was away from Rachel even for a night or so, however she also knew it wouldn't be right for Chloe to go back home as what was happening between Mel and Paul wasn't something a 5 year old should have to witness.

"I know you do love, but mummy's feeling a bit unhappy at the moment, I'm sure she'd love to hear from you though she'll be at work now but you can give her a call soon as we get back from school okay"

"Please don't make me go to a school today Auntie Rachel, I really don't want to"

"Darling I can't let you have the day off I really can't, I'd get into trouble anyway it'll do you good to see all your friends again"

"Okay" Chloe sobbed sounding really upset

Rachel grabbed some more tissues-something that had definitely come in handy over the last couple of days and dried up Chloe's tears.

After a very hectic start to the morning Rachel eventually got them all in the car, however Chloe was still obviously very upset by everything.

"Why are you crying Chloe" Alice asked "you've cried loads this weekend"

"Sorry" Chloe mumbled feeling embarrassed about being so teary

Rachel knew Alice didn't really mean why harm by asking Chloe and was probably just worried about her but she knew that the last thing Chloe would want was loads of questions

"Alice leave Chloe alone" Rachel said a little firmly

Alice immediately got annoyed at her mum talking to her like this as she did only mean to be nice

"Well I was only being nice, I'll just be nasty in future"

Rachel rolled her eyes but didn't bother responding to this

"It's not fair, you've been nasty to me all weekend just because Chloe's being a cry baby" Alice said

Of course she didn't mean any of it, but she was still at the age where she would get jealous very easily if anyone seemed to be getting more of her mum attention than she was, which didn't happen very often as she was still the baby of the family.

"Hey stop that right now don't you talk like that okay" Rachel said

Rachel saw both Chloe and Alice now looked pretty upset, Chloe because Alice had called her a baby so now she felt even more upset and Alice because she didn't like it when her mum shouted at her

"Look I wasn't shouting at you Alice was I? just be nice okay"

"Well she is a cry baby, she's cried all the time, it's annoying"

"Alice if you don't want to spend some time alone in your bedroom when we get back from school I'd suggest you start to behave yourself and be nice to Chloe"

"Fine"

Rachel decided to ignore her daughter as she didn't want this to turn into a big argument right before they were going to school

Rachel pulled in at Alice's school and let her out.

"Bye love haves nice day"

Alice didn't bother saying goodbye and just stomped off, clearly still in a mood. Rachel rolled her eyes but didn't really think anything of it after all Alice would often have her little moods but they would normally blow over pretty quickly.

She then got back in the car and about 10 minutes later they arrived at Chloe's school, Rachel decided to walk down with her as because they'd left so early they now had quite a bit of time spare so Rachel decided to walk her down, she was still very upset and the last thing Rachel wanted to do was send her off feeling like that.

"Come on Chloe let's walk down"

Chloe started walking down with her aunt and Rachel put her arms around her as they walked

"Auntie Rachel I really don't want to go in" Chloe said as tears ran down her face she sounded so upset and frightened

"Chloe I know how upset you are, really I do but sweetheart I really can't let you have the day off and you know going to school will probably do you good, you'll be able to have a laugh with your friends it'll take your mind off things a bit sweetheart"

"Okay" Chloe said trying to sound brave

"Good girl, now give me a hug before you go"

Chloe wrapped her arms around Rachel but doing this just made her cry again, so Rachel cuddled her for a while but then pulled away from her.

"Off you go, go and have a good day" Rachel said "Chloe do you want me to have a word with your teacher before you go in, just to let her know why you might be upset"

Chloe shook her head before walking off, Rachel felt bad leaving her but there wasn't really a lot else she could do, as she knew it would do more harm than good letting Chloe have the day off.

She got back in her car and drove off

"Is Chloe okay" Charlotte asked sounding worried,she hated seeing her little sister so upset

"Not really no, this thing with your mum and Paul's really got to her"

"Well it was pretty bad"

Rachel was about to respond when suddenly Ellie said "shit I've forgotten my geography homework, I literally just left it on the kitchen table"

"Oh Ellie" Rachel sighed exasperated "well we can't go and get it now we'll be late, you'll have to just say you forgot it"

"Yeah like he'll believe that"

"Well if it's a once off he will" Rachel said pointedly

She knew that the one thing Ellie was pretty bad for was handing her homework in in time, and Rachel knew she needed to sort it out before school work got really important.

"Everyone forgets there homework some of the time mum" Ellie sighed

"Well that's true but with you it's a lot more than just some of the time isn't it Ellie?"

"Okay, okay ill make sure I give it to him straight away tomorrow"

"Well I'll be checking that you do"

"There's no need to check I'm sure he'll be delighted to tell you if I haven't done it"

Rachel smiled, it was true a big disadvantage for Ellie was that with her mum working there if something went wrong Rachel was guaranteed to know about it within a couple of hours of it happening, even if normally they wouldn't have bothered contacting parents about it.

"Mum it's not assembly today is it" Ellie asked

"Yes it is, 1 o clock this afternoon, and guess what your in for a real treat"

"Why" Ellie asked suspiciously "it's not one of those freaky religious people you've got coming in is it, who hands out a bible to everyone at the end"

"Nope even better than that"

"What then?"

"It's my assembly today"

Ellie groaned

"Oh well thanks for the support"

"You're assemblies drag on for hours and you bollock us if we're late and then it's almost guaranteed you'll spend at least half an hour telling us how atrocious uniform is and if anyone even whispers you send them out ... But actually come to think of it that's probably a blessing, I might try it"

Rachel started laughing, she knew that sometimes she could go on a bit in assembly but it was her only chance to get her messages across to the whole school.

They soon parked up and both girls ran out before Rachel even had a chance to say goodbye to them

"Charming" she muttered under her breathe

Despite quite a hectic morning the day seemed to be assign pretty smoothly and by 11 everything was quiet so Rachel decided to wander round

However when she went Into the maths corridor she saw Ellie stood outside, Rachel sighed before going over to her

"What are you doing out here when you should be in your lesson"

"Got sent out"

"Why"

"Would you ask that to any other kid stood outside"

"I would as it happens yes, would you speak to any other teacher like that"

"I would as it happens yes" Ellie said cheekily, however her impression of her mums voice was actually so alike it was uncanny and Rachel could feel her lips curling into a smile that didn't go unnoticed by her daughter so she quickly bit her lip

"Don't be so rude, and if you're cheeky to me again I'll be sending you to the cooler"

"Oh I'm shit scared now" Ellie muttered,however Rachel still heard her

"Hey I'm being serious cut it out and stop with the swearing I mean it" Rachel said

Ellie could tell from her mums voice she was starting to get in her nerves and she knew that her mum was going to loose her temper if she didn't stop now

"Okay sorry"

"So what did you do"

"Nothing"

"Oh don't give me that, tell me what happened"

"We were passing notes around and sir lost his temper and said the next person to do anything apart from maths would go outside and I threw a paper aeroplane and it accidentally hit him on the head so he sent me out" Ellie explained

"For gods sake Ellie how old are you, I'd expect that from someone Alice's age"

"It was a pretty decent plane actually you should be proud of my construction skills, and it flew amazingly, just unfortunate that it was in the wrong direction"

Rachel was dangerously close to laughing now as sometimes the way Ellie put things really did amuse her

"Well don't do it again, it's jot funny or clever it's just very immature"

"Can I go back inside now"

"No you can stay out here until you get called back in, I'll see you late in assembly .. On time"

Ellie smiled as her mum walked off

The rest of the morning passed quite quickly and soon it was time for assembly.

About 5 minutes after assembly had begun Ellie and a few of her friends walked in late.

"Perhaps some of us would be best investing in a watch that way they'd arrive on time for assembly, and I wouldn't have to give them all detention after school tonight" Rachel said causing all of the girls to groan but none of them dared say anything when Rachel was in the middle of her assembly as they knew it probably wouldn't go down too well

After a relatively brief assembly everyone began to file out, Rachel was about to get down and go back to her office when charlottes form tutor approached her

"Rachel I just thought I'd let you know Charlotte didn't turn up for assembly or for her third lesson"

This instantly made Rachel worry as this was really unlike Charlotte she was normally so well behaved.

"Really that doesn't sound like Charlotte" Rachel said sounding worried

"Well I'm sure she's fine just probably trying to get out of maths, but I thought I'd let you know just in case"

"Thank you, I'll have a search round for her"

Rachel then went round the school in search of her but couldn't see her anywhere so was beginning to get worried. She went back up to her office and tried calling her but there was no answer, it was then that she saw Charlotte coming back in through the school gates, Rachel felt quite angry now as Charlotte knew it wasn't acceptable just to leave school.

Rachel ran down and met up with her, causing Charlotte to jump when she saw her aunt

"Oh welcome back, did you have a nice little trip out" Rachel said sarcastically

"Sorry"

"Where have you been"

"I only nipped out for lunch then I was late back so didn't want to interrupt assembly so I've just waited in the loos till it's finished"

"You see I know not one thing you just said to me is true, you haven't just gone out for lunch you were missing period 3 and you didn't just come back late, I've just seen you coming through the gates about 2 minutes ago"

Charlotte didn't know what to say so just stared at her feet

"My office please" Rachel said sounding quite firm

Charlotte followed her aunt up and sat down on the sofa in her aunts office feeling scared, although she'd been here quite a few years she hadn't really been inside the office much as generally she was so well behaved, so Rachel would have no reason to call up for her, In fact she didn't really see Rachel that much at all in school, of course she'd smile at her if they saw each other on a corridor or Rachel would stop and chat to her for a little while but other than that they didn't see each other much.

"So where have you been" Rachel asked calmly

Charlotte just shrugged her shoulders in response not wanting to explain

"Ok what have you been doing"

Again Charlotte shrugged her shoulders

"Fine I'll give your mum a call let her know you've failed to turn up to a lesson been out all of lunch and missed assembly" Rachel said "oh and you can do a detention after school tonight and tomorrow, now off you go"

Rachel picked up her phone and started to type in Mel's number

" no Rachel don't"

"It's not optional I'm afraid, I have a duty to let parents know if there child's been out"

"There's no point anyway she already knows" charlotte sighed

"Oh yeah so you've rung her up to tell her you skived off did you"

"No" Charlotte sighed

"Somehow I didn't think so now go on"

"Rach please don't ring home"

Rachel sighed but put the phone down wanting to at least have a proper chat with Charlotte before she rang Mel

She went and sat down next to her but much to her surprise Charlotte started crying, suddenly all the anger Rachel was feeling towards her niece went and her motherly instincts kicked in

"Hey don't cry, it's not that bad you know" she said her voice a lot gentler now "I didn't mean make you upset, I'm not as angry as all that honestly"

Charlotte continued to cry so Rachel out her arm around her "come on let's have a nice hot drink and a chat, what do you fancy, I've got coffee, tea, water oh and I've even got hot chocolate if you fancy"

"Hot chocolate please"

"Now how did I know you were going to say that" Rachel said laughing

Rachel went over and made a hot chocolate for Charlotte and a coffee for herself before sitting back down again

"What's happened love,?" Rachel asked "it's not like you to skip school"

"I went to mums"

"Oh love why didn't you say anything"

"Because you'd have tried to stop me"

"Not necessarily, I'd have taken you after school if you'd have really wanted I just thought that you and Chloe needed some time away, but if you want to go back don't feel like you have to stay at mine"

"No I want to stay at yours I just wanted to check up on her and shes in a really bad way that's why I was so long, but she's still with that idiot, god I'm glad Chloe isn't round at the moment he terrifies her I think that's why she's been acting so weird over the last few days"

"Well it's no wonder, what with everything going on she's bound to feel upset and so are you love"

"I'm fine I'm not a little kid"

"I know that, but you're not an adult either are you?"

"I know, mum seemed upset earlier when I went round, I was going to stay longer but she said I hats to go back to school and she said she had grandma coming soon to stay with her for a bit"

Rachel was quite relieved to hear this as she didn't like to think of Mel alone when she was upset but she certainly didn't want the girls to be the ones to have to look after her, after all they were both way too young to be having to deal with all this.

"Well that's good isn't it huh?"

"I guess, Rachel I really am sorry for skipping school"

"You wouldn't have done it under normal circumstances love, I'll let you off just this once"

"What so I don't even have to do detention"

"Well actually maybe it's best I make you, after all the other teachers don't know your reasons and I don't want to make it seem like it's one rule for you and another for everyone else, besides you'll have Ellie to keep you company"

"Why what did she do"

"Turned up late for assembly which I'd already warned her about on several occasions"

"She's always late for your assembles"

"Oh yeah I have noticed"

Charlotte smiled at this, it was nice for Rachel to see her with a smile back on her face as by the sound of it she hadn't had a very nice couple of hours.

The rest of the day passed quite quickly and after Rachel had supervised the girls 10 minute detention they set off to pick the younger two up.

"Rachel is it okay if I go out tonight"

"Yeah course it is love as long as your home by about 8ish"

"I will be I'm only going to my friends house to do some homework"

"Well you won't hear me complaining about you doing that"

They drove to Alice's school first as it was closest, Rachel was about to get out and get Alice but then saw her coming towards the car.

"Hey love"

"Hi" Alice said sounding quite flat

Rachel picked up in this and began to wonder what was up as Alice had been in a funny mood all weekend

"Was school okay" Rachel asked once they were in the car

"Yep"

"Good you didn't have any more run ins with your new teacher did you"

"No"

"Good stuff" Rachel said

They then started driving to Chloe's school, but they were very pushed for time as her after school group finished at the same time as Alice's but obviously Rachel couldn't be in two places at once so she was a little late picking Chloe up.

When they got there Rachel got out and went over but saw Chloe wasn't in the playground so knocked on her classroom door thinking maybe her teacher had kept her in there while she waited for her to arrive, after all it was raining outside now.

Chloe's teacher opened the door straight away and let Rachel in.

"Hi so sorry I'm late things are a little hectic at the moment"

"It's fine, actually though there's been a bit of an upset"

Rachel then saw Chloe sat on one of the chairs crying her eyes out just like she had been this morning, she rushed over to her and sat down on the tiny seat next to her and put chloe on her knee

"What's gone on?" Rachel asked

"Well she's been very unsettled all day and she kept having to be taken out because she was so upset and after school things have seemed even worse, she was so upset we were going to call you to come and take her but she said you'd be angry because you wanted her to stay in school"

"Hey I wouldn't have been angry love" Rachel soothed "look the thing is she's had a really bad couple of days, there's been some trouble at home with her mum and her partner and poor Chloe's been caught in the middle of it all, I'm so sorry for bringing her to school like this I thought it would do her good to put things behind her a bit but obviously it hadn't worked out"

"No it's fine, you weren't to know she'd be this upset and I do think it would be best to bring her back tomorrow if she's feeling any better at all"

"Okay we'll see how things go tonight, see how you feel in the morning hmm"

Rachel then took hold of Chloe's hand and led her out of school

"Sorry for being a baby" Chloe cried once they were nearly at the car

"You've got nothing to be sorry for my love, come on let's get in the car we'll talk in there"

Alice saw her cousin walking up to the car with her mum, she saw she was crying again and couldn't help but feel annoyed at her.

Once they were at the car Rachel got in the front and put Chloe on her knee so she could calm her down before they set off

"Oh my god Chloe what's happened" Charlotte asked

"She's just had a bad day at school I think, she's been a bit upset about everything haven't you love"

Chloe nodded, she was still crying but she relaxed and snuggled up into Rachel's chest as she stroked her back.

"She's always upset" Alice said

"Alice I warned you earlier"

"But it's stupid, you and Danny argue sometimes but I don't cry and act like a baby"

"I mean It Alice that's enough"

"No because it's just annoying and your annoying too" she shouted

"Right when you get in you can got straight to your room and if you don't stop being so nasty you can stay there for some time"

"But that's not fair"

"Alice don't shout at me, that's what's happening whether it's fair or not"

"I hate you" Alice muttered, of course she didn't mean it, her mum was the person she loved most out of everyone but she'd often say this if she was in a particularly bad mood

"Well then I'm sorry you feel that way" Rachel sighed

Rachel was beginning to get fed up of the way Alice was being, she couldn't understand why she was Being mean to Chloe, they normally got on so well and Alice would beg Rachel to arrange it with Mel for Chloe to come and sleep over.

Chloe had now stopped crying and with Rachel stroking her back, she'd actually fallen asleep having tried herself out from crying so much and from not having slept well.

They drove home but Chloe was still asleep so Rachel went and lifted her up, she realised part of the reason she was so upset today was in part due to her being so tired

"Alice straight to your room" Rachel said calmly, still with Chloe in her arms

Alice sighed and went upstairs, she hated getting sent to her room but she seemed to have been sent quite a bit over the weekend

"Rachel I'm just going to get changed then can I go out straight away"

"Sure, do you need a lift"

"Nope she only lives round the corner"

Rachel was glad to hear this as with the mood everyone was in she didn't fancy dragging them all into the car.

Charlotte quickly got ready before dashing off

A few minutes later Chloe woke up, she saw she was on her aunts sofa so realised she must have fallen asleep and Rachel had out her here to lie down.

She got up and walked through to the kitchen where she thought her aunt would be but realised she wasn't there, so started looking round but bumped into Ellie

"You feeling better now Chloe" Ellie asked

"Yes" Chloe said "where's auntie Rachel"

"Try the study knowing her she'll be working despite having finished work about 20 minutes ago"

Chloe laughed before going into the study, she saw her auntie sat with her glasses on looking at the computer but now she'd changed into her comfy jeans and t shirt

As soon as she saw Chloe Rachel stopped checking over the student reports she was looking over and faced Chloe, she instantly took her glasses off, something she always did if someone walked in on her wearing them as she felt really self conscious even if she was just in front of the girls.

"Hey darling how you feeling" Rachel said gesturing for Chloe to sit down on the chair next to her

"Okay"

"Did you have a bit of a bad day love"

"Yes"

"You know I do understand it's tough love, but you are going to get through and I know you might not want to talk about it, bit if ever you do I'm here okay, and you're mums only ever a phone call away"

"I know, thanks for being so nice to me auntie Rachel" she said before wrapping her arms around her aunt

Rachel gave a cuddle before saying "why don't we all go out tonight"

Rachel thought it might do everyone some good to have a bit of fun

"Yeah that would be nice"

"How about going bowling and Pizza Hut"

"Really even though it's a school night"

" well it shouldn't be a problem, if we leave in about half an hour or so we'll be back for 7"

"Yes that'd be so nice"

"Okay we'll do it then, let me just go and get madam sorted first though" Rachel said realising Alice had been in her room quite a while now.

Rachel walked across and opened the door and saw Alice sat on her bed looking upset

"You ready to be nice to people now"

Alice nodded her head

"Come on then you can come out"

"No it's okay I'll stay here" Alice said

Rachel sighed before going and sitting on her bed

"What's wrong"

"Nothing"

"Well then what's with all this bad behaviour" Rachel asked

Rachel waited for a response but she didn't get one

"Okay I know it's Been a funny sort of a weekend what with your cousins being over and I know that Chloe's been very upset so she's had most of my attention and you've had to share me a bit more which I know you're not used to" Rachel said "but she's had a horrible time of it and I'm the only one she's had really to talk to, what do you normally do when you're really upset or something's happened that you're not very happy about"

"Tell you about it"

"Well Chloe hasn't been able to talk to her mum so I'm the one she has to talk to when she's sad you wouldn't want her all upset would you"

"No" Alice Said beginning to feel really bad

"Good, now come and give me a cuddle"

Alice went over and gave her mum a big hug "sorry mummy"

"It's forgotten, just make sure you apologise for Chloe at some point okay?"

They stayed cuddled up for a few minutes before Rachel said "now we were thinking of having a trip out to bowling and Pizza Hut, but I presume you won't want to come seeing as you hate me"

Alice laughed knowing her mum was joking now.

They finished up having a really nice night together and it was so nice for them all to have some quality time as a family

Please review xxxxxx


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

It was early on a Sunday morning and Rachel was in bed with Danny, both if them still in a deep sleep when suddenly there door opened. Rachel stayed sound asleep for quite a while and only began to stir when she felt someone shaking her, she glanced at the stopcock next to her bed and saw it was 5:45, she sighed praying no one was going to drag her out of bed now. Rachel then looked up and saw Chloe stood next to her looking quite upset.

"What is it love"

"I woke up and now I can't get back to sleep but no one else is awake yet and I didn't want to just be awake all on my own"

Rachel knew that Chloe always did wake up early, and didn't really like just waiting in bed, however normally they'd all be going to school anyway so it wouldn't be long before everyone woke up as well.

"Why don't you come in with me for a cuddle then?"

"But Danny's in too"

"Well there's plenty of room and anyway if he gets too annoying we can always just shove him out can't we?" Rachel said causing Chloe to giggle

That was one of the things Chloe loved about staying at Rachel's at the moment, her aunt always seemed to be in a good mood and would always be cheery around her even if it was really late at night or really early in the morning.

Rachel budged up so Chloe got in next to her, Rachel wrapped her arms around the little girl and this instantly made Chloe feel all relaxed.

"You looking forward to seeing your mummy today love?" Rachel asked

The girls had been staying with Rachel for a week now and they'd decided it was definitely time for Mel to spend some time with them, as she knew Chloe especially had been a bit unsettled over the last day or so and Rachel knew this was because she was missing her mum, and Mel was missing them loads too, however there was still way too much going on in Mel's life for the girls to go and live with her again yet.

"Yes I can't wait" Chloe said

"Well I'm sure she feels that way too, but anyway probably best we get a couple more houses sleep now just so you can enjoy yourself and have a nice time today without being all tired"

It took a while but eventually Chloe did drop off again and both her and Rachel had quite a bit of a lie in.

Danny woke up and saw the two of them together, a smile crept across his face it amazed him how quickly Chloe had taken to Rachel so much, they'd always been close but over the past week or so his girlfriend had been more like a mother to the little girl than an auntie.

A couple of minutes later both Rachel and Chloe were awake

"Well it's very nice to wake up to two beautiful ladies lying next to me" Danny joked causing them both to laugh

Chloe then realised she was desperate for the toilet so dashed out of her aunties bed and into her en suite.

"Is everyone else awake yet" Rachel asked

"Nope all still fast asl..." Danny began however he didn't have time to finish his sentence because there bedroom door opened again and Alice came in and got in next to her mum

"Goodness me we are going to have a full bed aren't we?" Rachel laughed

"Why mummy it's only you and Danny in?"

"Chloe's been in too she's just nipped to the loo"

"Well maybe it's time i disappeared for a bit" Danny said

"Yeah go and make yourself useful"

"Breakfast in bed do you my lady"

"Ooh yes that'll do us just fine won't it Alice"

Alice laughed and nodded she always loved it when her mum and Danny joked around together. Danny then disappeared off so it was just Rachel and Alice in bed.

"You sleep alright darling"

"Yes mummy"

Alice then rested herself against Rachel and Rachel brought her into a cuddle. She knew Alice always did like coming in for a cuddle with her on a morning even on a school day when Danny had left for work, it was part of there little morning routine.

Rachel stayed cuddled up with Alice for a few minutes but then realised Chloe still hadn't come back from the bathroom

"Chloe are you okay in there love?" Rachel called

"Yes" Chloe mumbled

Rachel noticed she sounded a bit upset so got out of bed, and went over to the bathroom door.

"Can I come in"

"Yes"

Rachel opened the door and went in and saw Chloe looking a little upset stood by the sink

"What's up?" Rachel asked

Even though Chloe had only been living with her for a week, Rachel had began to pick up on a few tell tale signs that Chloe was feeling down about something

"I'm okay"

"Come on let's go back into bed, Alice is in there too, we can have a nice chat all of us" Rachel said thinking Chloe might feel a bit more relaxed if they were just in bed having a talk rather than just the two of them

Chloe left the bathroom with her aunt and got back into bed.

Rachel got in the middle so had Alice and Chloe on either side of her.

"Mummy why do people say me and Ellie look similar" Alice asked randomly

"Well because you do" Rachel said laughing

"No but why do we look similar, you said we both came from tiny little eggs inside of you and they grow into babies but I don't get why we'd look similar if we came from toe separate eggs"

Rachel felt a smile creeping across her face the questions her daughter would ask always did amuse her

"Well because those eggs are all inside my tummy so they come from the same person so you're bound to look a bit similar and you've got some of daddy in the two of you too, so the same two people make two different people" Rachel explained

"But mummy what I really don't get mummy is how the part of daddy makes me because the egg hatches inside of you not daddy so he doesn't even touch it"

"Well for starters the egg doesn't exactly hatch darling" Rachel said "and anyway I've already told you mummy and daddy have a special kiss that's how daddy makes the baby"

"But I don't get .." Alice began

Rachel knew she'd have to move her on, or they were going to be stuck for ages

"Darling we'll talk about it later okay"

"I bet we won't" Alice mumbled

Rachel pretended not to hear her and looked down at Chloe who looked a bit upset despite having been so happy just a few minutes ago

"Chloe is everything alright"

Chloe nodded her head "I'm just nervous and I feel a bit sick" she admitted

"What you nervous about?"

"Just seeing mummy and stuff" Chloe said sounding a bit uncomfortable to be saying this

Rachel brought Chloe into an even tighter cuddle she knew how hard things like this could be for Chloe and she was probably scared in case things went wrong

"Chloe you are going to be absolutely fine honestly you are, you're mum will be so excited to see you and everything's going to be okay I promise, then you can come back later on tonight and you can tell me all about it yeah?"

"Okay"

"And anyway you'll have Charlotte there to look after you won't you"

Chloe nodded her head and then relaxed against Rachel for a bit

When Danny can back in a couple of minutes later with some breakfast for them all he couldn't help but smile when he saw Rachel cuddling the toe little girls

"Hi darling" Rachel said smiling "that looks nice"

Danny out it down and everyone started tucking in

"This is lovely, we could get used to this everyday couldn't we girls"

"Well don't go getting any ideas you" Danny Said

They finished off there breakfast and then had a little cuddle and chat for a bit longer before deciding it was time to get up as she'd promised Mel she'd have the girls dropped off by 10.

She went into Ellie's room and saw her daughter just starting to wake up

"Morning love"

"Mum I have a really sore stomach" Ellie said the minute she woke up properly

"Oh do you? When did that start you didn't wake up in the night at all did you love"

"Once but I got back to sleep eventually"

"You should have come and got me I'd have got you sorted With hot water and everything"

"I know but I don't like to wake you when you're asleep, especially not at the weekend"

Ellie knew her mum had, had a really tough week not only with having two extra kids to look after at home but she knew things at school hadn't exactly gone great for Rachel that week as she's finished up having to chuck one of her pupils out, which she always hated having to do.

"I wouldn't have minded,you're more important than my sleep"

They talked for a bit linger and then Rachel went and got Ellie a glass of water and some paracetamol before coming back up to her room

"Mum what time are we dropping Charlotte and Chloe off at"

"10 love, why do you fancy doing something afterwards just the four of us"

Rachel knew it had probably been a strange week for the girls but they'd both coped really well with it, but she wanted to spend some time with them both on there own today.

"Yeah that'd be really nice, can we go for a meal in that new pub that's opened the food in there's meant to be really good"

"Sure if that's what you'd like then we can take Alice down the park afterwards"

"Sounds good"

"Hmm we'll have to see how you're stomach is though"

"I'm sure it'll be fine by then"

Rachel then got everyone else up and dressed and then realised they were actually running a little bit late so got everyone in the car"

They were about half way there when Rachel felt Chloe tapping her on the shoulder as she was driving

"What is it love?"

"I really need a wee" Chloe whispered

"Well it's not far, I'm sure you can wait, there's not really anywhere I can stop round here"

Rachel continued to drive but made sure she went as fast as she possibly could without breaking the speed limit. As soon as they got to Mel's Chloe ran up to the door and knocked as she was really bursting.

After a few seconds Mel answered the door, Chloe didn't even say anything just rushed straight inside and went to the toilet.

"What's up with her" Mel asked

"sorry she was desperate for the toilet and we couldn't stop anywhere on the way back" Rachel explained

"Oh" Mel said

Charlotte went over and have her mum a big hug

Rachel looked closely at Mel and saw how bad she actually looked there were dark rings round her eyes and her face looked a bit bruised which made Rachel really worry. She could also smell alcohol on Mel and it was quite strong and surprisingly Rachel could smell smoke as well and she'd never known Mel smoke before

"Come on girls come and see your auntie Mel" Rachel called

Ellie and Alice were a bit reluctant to get out the car but did come over.

It was only till they went in that Rachel realised what a bad way Mel must be in the house was a tip, although Mel had never been quite as fussy as Rachel had been on keeping the house spotless she would normally hate to see it dirty.

They went into the kitchen and the smell of alcohol and smoke became even stronger

Mel sat down at the table as did Rachel however Mel just started staring into space

"Mel what's happened"

Mel shrugged her shoulders

"Has he hurt you"

"No course he hasn't" she snapped

"If he's hurt you I want to know about it, he needs reporting to the police"

"Just leave your nose out of my business" she said

"Okay I'm sorry" she sighed "Mel I'm worried about you"

"well don't be I'm fine"

"Come on Mel please talk to me"

"I said I'm fine"

Rachel kept trying to get her to talk but Mel was having none of it and kept getting really snappy so eventually Rachel gave up, but she did feel really uncomfortable leaving the girls here

"Mel are you sure you want to have them today"

"Yeah there the only thing keeping me going"

Hearing Mel say this made Rachel realise there was no way she could even think about not letting them stay and thought that perhaps seeing the girls may make Mel feel more lively and like her usual bubbly self again

Rachel stayed a bit linger but after a while realised it was definitely time to go home.

Rachel got Ellie and Alice back in the car and started driving off

"Mummy what's wrong with auntie Mel"

"I don't think she's feeling too well"

"Is Paul abusing her" Ellie asked

Rachel didn't know what to say to this but she didn't really want to talk about it now, especially not with Alice in the car.

"Shh love not now" Rachel said gesturing towards Alice

They drove home and then the girls went into the living room and started watching a movie

Rachel went into the kitchen where Danny was having a cup of coffee

"Hey Rach how was Mel"

Rachel sighed but decided to tell Danny all about it, and after talking to him she really did feel a bit better and calmer about everything

They spent the morning having a lazy time of it and just getting in with homework and everything but then went out for there meal.

The pub was really nice and all the food looked lovely

"Can I have the BBQ baguette" Ellie asked

"Course you can if that's what you fancy love, what about you Alice what do you want?"

"Can I have the chicken nuggets and chips"

Rachel rolled her eyes "I wouldn't be surprised if you turned Into a chicken nugget"

Alice laughed it was true she would always order the same thing no matter where they went out.

They had a really nice meal together and it was nice just to have some as the four of them again as although they all loved having Charlotte and Chloe it was always very hectic and busy when there was 6 of them.

They went to the park for a bit so that Alice could have a play as they all knew she would be restless all afternoon if they didn't go somewhere for her to burn off steam

She was messing about by the swings but suddenly she lent too far forward and fell flat in her face

"Oh god" Rachel said before running over

She saw Alice was pretty much unharmed but her knees were quite badly scraped

"Oh dear" Rachel said

"It hurts mummy" Alice sobbed

"I know sweetheart come in let's go and get you cleaned up"

Rachel lifted her up and carried her to the toilets where she cleaned up her cut, although Alice was still in a bit of pain she had stopped crying now

"Well done for being so brave sweetheart" Rachel said kissing her knee

Th began to walk out and met up with Ellie and Danny

"Should we head back now" Danny said

Everyone was definitely ready for a bit of a relax by now so they all got back in the car and drove back home again

A few hours passed and Rachel was in the kitchen getting some stuff ready for tea when Alice came in

"Mummy when are Chloe and Charlotte coming back"

"I don't know darling what time is it now?"

Alice looked at the clock "it's 6"

"Well I don't think they'll be back that late to be honest especially since it's school tomorrow so Mel will know I've got to get Chloe ready"

"What's for tea"

"Pasta"

"Yay I love pasta"

"I know you do, come on you can give me a hand with it" Rachel said

She knew that in reality asking Alice to help her would only mean she had twice the work to do, but she wanted to keep her occupied for a while

"Now are you sure you've done all your homework ready for tomorrow, because miss jones won't be happy if you haven't will she"

"I've done it mummy" Alice promised

"Good girl"

The two of them then finished off making the tea, however when it was ready there was still no sign of Chloe and Charlotte

Rachel presumed Mel had just given them tea at her house so decided to have tea just the four of them.

They were about half way through there meal when there was a knock at the door.

Rachel immediately jumped up to answer it and saw it was Mel coming back.

"Hi Rach I've just come to drop Chloe off, charlottes gone out to this thing I can't remember where she said but she should be back for 10 ish" Mel said

Rachel was about to respond but Mel had already gone off, Rachel was a bit annoyed that Mel had let Charlotte go out tonight as it was a school night so she didn't want her out but afterall there wasn't a lot Rachel could do about it.

"Hey love you had a nice time" Rachel asked Chloe

But just looking at Chloe told Rachel something had gone wring because she looked so upset

Chloe nodded her head

"Good, we're just having tea have you had yours"

"No but I'm no hungry"

"You've got to eat something love, come on I've made pasta"

Chloe went with her auntie through to the kitchen and Rachel got her some pasta

She ate about half of it but then felt sick

"Auntie Rachel I'm really sorry but I'm full"

"That's okay Chloe go and have a little lie down on the sofa if you want, you must have had a busy day"

Chloe got down from the table and emptied her plate before putting it by the dishwasher

"Is she okay mum" Ellie asked

"I don't know she seems a bit upset"

"How come charlottes not here"

"Mel's let her go out somewhere but she'll be home for 10 ish apparently"

Alice finished a couple of minutes later so immediately got down and went to leave

"Ah plate first please missus" Rachel said

Alice sighed before getting her plate and putting it by the dishwasher, she went into the living room and saw Chloe asleep on the sofa so sat next to her.

Rachel came in a few minutes later and saw Alice cuddled up next to Chloe. She stood there watching them thinking how cute they both looked but then Alice saw her

"What are you looking at mummy"

"Nothing I just came to check on you, I think it's about time we got you both in the bath"

"But Chloe's asleep"

"Well it's getting late so she can go back to sleep after I've given you both a bath"

Rachel went over and gently woke Chloe up before taking them both upstairs. She ran the bath before getting them both in.

As usual Alice wouldn't stop talking as Rachel bathed her but Chloe was almost silent the whole time

"What are you two doing after your bath then, you going to come down and watch some tv for an extra 20 minutes, or you can go and have a chat together in Alice's room for a bit or if you're tired you can go to bed"

"We'll go into my room"

"Hang on aren't you going to check that's okay with Chloe first"

"That's okay" Chloe replied but really she just wanted to go to bed

Rachel dried them both off and they got into pyjamas

"Right I'll be up in 20 minutes and then I want Chloe back in her room so you can both go to sleep"

As soon as Rachel left Alice started talking to Chloe, Chloe tried to talk for a bit too but she just wanted some alone time.

She was very glad when she heard Rachel come in

"Come on girls go to the loo quickly before bed then it's time for sleep"

Chloe went first and then went into her bedroom and then Alice went

Rachel tucked Alice in first and then went to see Chloe

"So did you have a nice time with your mummy earlier on"

"Yeah"

"What sort of things were you Doing"

Chloe shrugged her shoulders before saying "just stuff"

"Oh well I'm glad you had a nice time, you get a good nights sleep now though"

"Night auntie Rachel" Chloe mumbled as she tuned over on her side

"Night sweetheart love you lots"

After she'd kissed her goodnight Rachel left her to it and went downstairs

When she was down she saw Ellie at the table trying to do homework, Rachel sighed when she saw her wishing she wouldn't always leave it till the very last minute

"Ellie you could have done that yesterday instead of spending 2 hours watching the music channel"

"Well as long as it's done it's fine isn't it?" Ellie snapped

"There's no need to get snappy is there? I was just saying"

"Well sometimes I wish you bloody wouldn't"

"What's up?" Rachel sighed knowing Ellie would never normally be like this

"I can't bloody do it, it doesn't make any sense" Ellie said tears beginning to form in her eyes

She then grabbed the paper and crumpled it before throwing across the kitchen

"Well that was a mature way to handle things Ellie" Rachel said sarcastically

Rachel then went and picked it back up

"Let's see your sheet"

Ellie sighed and have it to her

"This is history I take it"

Ellie nodded normally she loved history but was finding this really hard

Rachel say down next to her and spent a good half hour going over it and after she'd finished Ellie felt a lot calmer

"Right so now that's all sorted why don't we watch tv"

Rachel and Danny both sat down with Ellie and they all watched some tv together

An hour or so later Ellie went to bed but Rachel was getting quite worried as Charlotte wasn't home.

However about 10 minutes later Rachel heard the front door open so jumped up and went

It didn't take her long though to realise Charlotte was very drunk

"Oh Christ go to the bathroom" Rachel sighed

Charlotte staggered to the bathroom and Rachel held her hair back as she was sick

"Bloody hell Charlotte you shouldn't be getting like this at your age, especially not on a school night" Rachel said but she was more worried than angry really

Once she'd been sick, Charlotte started to sob "I'm sorry please don't be mad"

"Come on let's go and get you into your pyjamas then we need a talk"

Charlotte brushed her teeth and with Rachel's help got into her pyjamas and took her make up off

"Are you okay now" Rachel asked

"Yes but I'm really really sorry ..." Charlotte sobbed still overcome with all the drink she'd had

"No use crying over it now, though you should really be more sensible, I'm not going to stop you having a drink if you're with your friends but it's certainly not something you should be doing when there's school the next day" Rachel said but her voice was quite gentle "why did you do it huh"

"I don't know, I had a bad time at mums and I just felt like it"

"What happened at your mums" Rachel asked

"She was just awful" she sobbed "she barely spoke it was like she was in a trance and then he came"

"What Paul came in"

"Yeah, but I left straight away to go to the party thing"

"Oh god it must have been awful" Rachel sighed "but drinking isn't the answer okay"

"I know"

"Anyway we'll forget about it for now, you need to sleep this off" Rachel said "and however bad you feel in the morning you are going to school got that, a hangover isn't an excuse for a day off"

"Okay" Charlotte Said

She was surprised her auntie hadn't been more angry with her as Charlotte had always imagined she'd be really strict about this sort of thing but she'd been really reasonable

"Rachel"

"Yeah"

"Thank you ...you know for ..."

"Okay" Rachel Said quietly "come on straight to sleep"

Rachel turned the light off and closed charlottes door, she was just about to go back downstairs when she heard movement from Chloe's room so went to investigate

When she went in she found Chloe sat upright in bed, so Rachel went and knelt beside her bed

"Chloe what you Doing awake?"

"I can't sleep" Chloe mumbled " and I know I need to get to sleep but that's making it harder to go" she cried

"What you mean you've been awake all this time"

"Yes"

"You should have been asleep hours ago love"

"I know"

"Right well the worst thing you can do when you're trying to go to sleep is think too hard about going to sleep, come on lie back down"

Chloe lied down and Rachel began stroking her head

"Close your eyes sweetheart" Rachel said "do you want me to come in with you for a bit just until you drop off"

Chloe nodded so Rachel got in next to her and Chloe wrapped her arms round her aunt

"When I was a little girl, though actually I still do this now sometimes, is I count to 100 in my head why don't you give that a try hmm"

Chloe didn't think it would work but gave it a try anyway and by the time she got to about 59 she felt really tired so stopped counting and before long she drifted off to sleep.

Once Rachel could here her niece snoring gently she got out of bed and went down with Danny for a bit.

Monday morning came round far too quickly for Rachel and it wasn't long before the normal Monday morning madness of getting everyone ready and in the car started

Once she'd dropped the two,little kids off she went to school with Charlotte and Ellie.

Fortunately However the day passed pretty quickly and it didn't seem long before the bell went for the End of school.

The girls came out and saw Rachel so they all got in the car and went to pick Alice up, who seemed to be in a very bubbly mood and wouldn't stop talking the whole way to Chloe's school

"God has your new teacher had you all on the blue smarties"

"No but Jessica snuck some sweets into school and we've been eating them all afternoon"

"Great" Rachel sighed "well you better eat your tea after all them sweets or I'll be annoyed"

"I will I'm starving mummy did you know I've got a boyfriend" she said causing them all to laugh

"You kept that quiet"

"Well it only happened today" Alice said "I think we'll get married though"

"Wow must be serious then, suppose you'll be moving out and going to live with him soon"

"Now you're not being serious anymore mummy" Alice sighed

"Sorry darling" Rachel said still laughing

"Can I come up to Chloe's school with you I want to see it"

"If you really want to love"

It wasn't long before they arrived so they got straight out, they weren't really very many other kids there as they'd all gone home so Rachel spotted Chloe straight away however Rachel saw she was stood right in the corner by herself and by the looks of it she was crying.

"Oh no" Rachel said before rushing over to her followed by Alice who was also worried about Chloe as she hadn't been really upset like this since last week

"Hey sweetheart what's happened" Rachel asked gently

Chloe wrapped her arms round her auntie and sobbed into her

"Darling what's wrong?"

Chloe still didn't speak so just cried into her

"You want to tell me back at the car" Rachel whispered

"No I can't tell you"

"Well if something's happened to get you this upset then I need to know about it" Rachel said "oh Chloe I hate seeing you like this just tell me what's up"

"I really can't"

"Chloe have got into trouble at school today or something, because if you have you mustn't be

Too afraid to tell me love"

"It's not that" Chloe sobbed "I had an accident at school auntie Rachel"

"Oh darling" Rachel sighed wrapping her arms even tighter around her "that can't have been very nice for you"

"Everyone saw and started laughing" Chloe sobbed obviously completely distraught

Rachel knew whatever she said wasn't going to make Chloe feel any better so just continued hugging her for a few more minutes

"Come on sweetie let's go home yeah"

Rachel took hold of Chloe's hand and took her crying niece to the car with Alice

"What's happened chloe" Charlotte asked putting her arm round her sister "are you upset about mummy again"

"She's not had a very nice day" Rachel said

Charlotte continued cuddling Chloe all the way home as she cried

As soon as they got home they went in

"Here darling pass me your things I'll get them straight In the wash so they'll be clean for tomorrow"

"I'm not going to school tomorrow" Chloe cried "I'm never going again"

Rachel was about to respond but Chloe ran upstairs

Charlotte came in just as Chloe was running upstairs "Chloe" she called

"Just leave her love" Rachel said

"But she's really upset"

"Oh I know she is the poor little thing"

"What happened"

"She had an accident at school today and you know what Chloe's like she's absolutely mortified but she hasn't been right ever since she got back yesterday"

"Well something might have happened while I was away"

"I'm going to have a proper chat with her I just want to give her some space, god it must be awful for her not having her mum to chat to now"

"I'm sure she's better off talking to you than mum Rach" Charlotte sighed

"Hey whatever you say about your mum, she's got plenty of good points too"

"Yeah yeah I know" Charlotte sighed "anyway I'm going to do some homework"

"Good girl"

Rachel left it a few minutes before going upstairs she went into Chloe's room but couldn't see her

"Alice did you see where Chloe went"

"She went into the bathroom"

"Thanks love" Rachel said "and Alice don't mention any of what you heard earlier to Chloe again will you, she'll be feeling very embarrassed about it"

"I won't mum I promise" Alice said

Rachel then went across to the bathroom and knocked on the door "sweetheart can I come in"

Chloe didn't respond but Rachel could hear her crying so went in anyway and saw Chloe sat against the bath sobbing

"Come with me a second love, come on"

Shaking a bit Chloe stood up and went over to her auntie "let's go through to my bedroom, I promise no one will come in"

Chloe walked with her aunt to her bedroom

"Go and have a little lie down on my bed if you want you look like you need it"

Chloe was shaking so much Rachel had to help her over and lie her down. Rachel lay down next to her as Chloe continued to cry.

"It's honestly not as bad as all that my love I promise" Rachel soothed "you're going to make yourself sick getting this upset"

Chloe closed her eyes and tried her best to stop crying

"I'm going to just get my work stuff off love, then I think we need a talk"

Rachel then took all her suit off and changed into her comfy clothes before putting Chloe on her knee and rocking her in an attempt to soothe her a bit

"Shh it's okay" Rachel whispered almost as though it was a baby she had in her arms

Rachel continued to soothe her for a while but then Chloe fell asleep in her arms obviously having worn herself out from crying so much.

Rachel out her down on her bed and watched her as she slept it nearly brought tears t Rachel's eyes seeing a child so upset, come to think of it Rachel had never seen anyone as upset as Chloe had been

About 15 minutes later Chloe woke up again and saw her auntie watching her looking really concerned

"You feeling any better"

"Yes" Chloe mumbled

"Good because you had me worried" Rachel said

Chloe sat up and relaxed into her auntie

"Love all that can't have just been about what happened at school today"

"It's not just that"

"Come on tell me all about it"

"Well the thing is something happened at mummy's"

"Okay so what was it"

"Well I'd been upset because she kept crying and she wasn't like mummy normally is at all and it was really scary so that made me sad but then Paul came in and he started yelling really bad words at mummy and then he hit her across the face but then I started crying and mummy told me to go to my room so I ran Up but Paul followed me and he punched me in the tummy and he hit my back, and it was hurting so much that's why I couldn't get to sleep, but then today my stomachs been sore and I was worried he was going to come and find me at school so I didn't want to go to the toilet in case he went in and found me in there because I was by myself, I know I was being stupid but I was just really scared auntie Rachel I was scared he might hurt mummy while I was at school and I got so scared I had an accident"

Rachel didn't know what to do she just brought Chloe really close to her as more tears fell down her face

"Sweetheart why didn't you tell me or your mum"

"I was frightened and now he's going to get me because I've told you, what if he kills me"

"He won't be allowed within 100 miles of you once I've got my hands on him" Rachel said "how could he do that the evil ..."

However Rachel realised it was Chloe who needed her now and going on about Paul wasn't doing her any good

"You've been so brave darling" Rachel said "and I'm going to make sure you're mummy's safe too, I think she should stay with me for a little while too"

"Yeah"

"I'm going to sort it all out later love I promise but for now let's get you sorted out" Rachel said "you feeling any better at all"

"A bit"

"I hated seeing you so upset, you must promise me you're never going to bottle anything like this up again"

"I promise"

"And about what happened at school don't you go thinking about it too much by tomorrow it'll all be forgotten"

"I can't go back everyone will laugh"

"Course they won't love, I dare say you're not the first kid"

"I know but It was so horrible"

"I know sweetheart I know, but for now you can forget all about it yes?"

"Okay" Chloe said "please can I have a bath"

"Yes darling I think that'll be a good idea come on let's get it run"

Chloe put her arms around Rachel again feeling so much more relaxed now she knew.

Know these last few chapters have been very heavily based on Charlotte and Chloe but I'll make sure the next ones are not, and if people want I could just write them out up to you please review and give me some opinions oh and would love some storyline ideas If anyone has any ! Xxxxxxxxx


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

It was a Tuesday afternoon and Rachel had just picked up Alice from her school and was now on her way to Chloe's. Both Charlotte and Ellie were going to friends houses tonight, so Rachel was going to pick Chloe up, quickly go and get changed and then drive to Mel's as Rachel really wanted to have a talk with her after what Chloe had told her yesterday

Rachel left Alice in the car thinking she'd only be a minute or so, and got out the car. It didn't take long for Rachel to spot Chloe, so went over to her.

"Hey darling how was school"

"Okay please can we go home now auntie Rachel" Chloe asked sounding quite urgent

"What's the rush" Rachel asked smiling slightly but she started walking back towards the car.

Rachel had just started walking up the little hill towards the car park when Chloe's teacher suddenly tapped her on the shoulder.

"Yes" Rachel said spinning round

"Can I have a couple of words please" she asked politely

Rachel noticed Chloe's face falling and how terrified she suddenly looked.

"Sure" Rachel said

"No auntie Rachel we need to get back" Chloe said sounding really scared

"Chloe I told you I wanted to speak to your auntie about today" mrs jones said looking quite stern

Rachel looked down at Chloe a bit confused, as it sounded like she was in trouble however this was completely unlike Chloe.

Rachel followed mrs jones back to the classroom with Chloe traipsing anxiously behind her.

The three of them then sat down at one of the little tables

"Chloe's been in a bit of trouble today haven't you?"

Rachel then looked at Chloe as she gave a tiny nod

"What have you done Chloe?" Rachel asked

Chloe didn't want to explain so just looked down at the floor

"Well she's been very naughty all day in lessons, she's been a real pain almost uncontrollable and when I asked her to stand outside she ran out and hid in the toilets and it took ages to find her"

"Chloe" Rachel said turning to her niece

Chloe still didn't feel like talking, she was feeling really scared about what her auntie was going to do to her and was sure she wasn't going to let her stay with her anymore.

When Rachel realised Chloe wasn't going to talk she decided to step in

"Look I'm really sorry about all this, and by the looks of her Chloe is too"

"Okay well we just wanted to let you know seeing as you're responsible for her at the moment"

"Thank you" Rachel said "I'll have a chat later with her about it"

Rachel and Chloe then stood up and went out and started waking back to the car

"Auntie Rachel I'm really sorry" Chloe said sounding like she was trying not to cry

"We'll have a talk at home okay, just get in the car for now"

Chloe and Rachel then both got in so Rachel started driving back

"Mummy you were ages" Alice moaned

"I know sorry love I was just chatting to Chloe's teacher about something"

"What were you talking about"

"Nothing important love"

"Mummy after we get home please can I go and play round Jess's for a little bit"

"Yeah as long as we don't get back too late"

Rachel then drove the rest of the way home, however when they got on the drive Chloe started to feel really sick because she was so scared.

"Chloe out you get" Rachel said

Chloe stepped out the car shaking a little bit and Rachel unlocked the door.

When they got in Alice ran upstairs to go and get changed but Alice stood in the hallway.

"Come through to the back room please" Rachel said

Chloe followed her auntie through and sat down

As soon as they were sat Rachel saw just how terrified Chloe actually was as she was shaking and her face was pale

"Auntie Rachel please can I go to the toilet first?" Chloe asked

"Yep" Rachel replied feeling a bit worried now

Chloe quickly went upstairs and into the toilet, after a couple of minutes she came out and went into her bedroom feeling too scared to go down.

When Chloe hadn't come back Rachel decided to go up and check on her.

"Chloe" Rachel called "Chloe come down I want to talk"

When she didn't get a response Rachel went up and looked in the bathroom and saw she wasn't there so went in her bedroom and saw Chloe sat looking petrified on her bed, Rachel knew there was no way she could even consider shouting at her for today, she really didn't have the heart to.

"Come on, come with me for a chat"

"Please don't shout at me" Chloe mumbled

"It's okay I'm not going to shout I promise, please come and have a little talk though yeah"

Shaking Chloe got up and walked over to her auntie, Rachel took her hand and led her to her room and sat down on the bed with her.

"Don't look so scared love I'm not going to shout trust me"

"Please don't hurt me"

"Darling you know I'd never lay a finger on you" Rachel soothed

"I'm scared"

"I know you are sweetheart but there's no need to be scared of your old auntie is there huh"Rachel said gently

Chloe suddenly felt a bit more relaxed so leant in against Rachel's chest

"Now love, I know you have had a pretty awful week to say the least and what I imagine is that you've been really upset so, well you don't .. Don't really feel like your usual self so you don't act like your usual self either and do things that maybe you wouldn't normally do, is that what happened today"

"Yes" Chloe mumbled

"Well I know it was a one off and won't happen again, so I say you stop all this worrying you're doing and forget all about if for now"

"You're really not going to shout at me" Chloe said surprised

"No love course I'm not, I do understand you know, just don't let it happen again"

"Thanks auntie Rachel" Chloe said wrapping her arms round Rachel lovingly

They stayed cuddled up for a couple of minutes but then suddenly Alice started shouting for Rachel

"Better go and see what that's about, you get changed we'll go and see your mummy in a couple of minutes"

Rachel then went into Alice's bedroom to see what all the fuss was about

"What were you shouting me for"

"I can't undo my top button on my shirt and the zips stiff on my skirt"

Rachel laughed before going over and undoing her shirt and skirt

"Thanks mum"

"That's alright love, what do you do when you're getting changed for PE though, I'm not there to undo it for you then"

"I get mrs chase to help me"

"Oh right" Rachel said smiling

"Mummy why was Chloe sad when she came out of school"

Rachel was going to give her a vague answer but Alice had been asking a lot of questions about her cousin so Rachel wanted to at least give her some indication of what was going on, just so she could understand things a little better.

"Get changed then we'll have a little talk about that"

Alice quickly put a skirt and a top on before sitting on the bed with her mum

"So whys Chloe been so sad mummy"

"Well you know when me and Danny have a little argument of when daddy and I just to get a bit angry with each other and we'd finish up having a but of a shout and you'd always get really upset"

"Yes I remember than one time when I was in bed and you were shouting and I got really upset, and you had to come and give me my inhaler and a cuddle so I'd stop crying"

"Well exactly kids don't like to see there parents fighting do they, and the thing is in Chloe's house there's quite a lot of shouting going on and there's a bit of fighting too so Chloe's feeling a bit sad about all of that, just like you would"

"How longs she staying here for"

"I don't know love, at the moment Paul's being quite nasty to Chloe and to your auntie Mel So we're going to go and see her now but I want to have a little chat with her so I need your and Chloe to go and play outside"

"Why can't I be there though"

Rachel sighed trying to think of the best way to explain this to Alice

"Well you know when something's happened that you might I don't know, feel a bit embarrassed about or you don't want everyone knowing so me and you go and find somewhere where we can have a private chat away from everyone else?"

"Yeah"

"Well auntie Mel and I need to have a private chat today love"

"Oh okay I get it now"

"Good girl, so are you ready to go then"

"Yes but mummy, am I still allowed to go to Jess's tonight"

"We'll see love" Rachel said, but this was just to keep Alice quiet as she knew it would be too late for her to go and play but if she said this now it would cause a big fuss.

Both Alice and Rachel then got up and walked out the room.

They then went down and put there shoes on before walking out to the car.

"Mummy can I put my booster seat it the front"

Alice always liked sitting in the front when she could next to her mum,because it made her feel grown up

"If you want but Chloe can have a turn on the way back okay"

"Okay"

Rachel then moved Alice's seat and sat her down.

She had just started driving when she noticed Alice jiggling her leg up and down and looking uncomfortable

"Alice do you need to go to the toilet?"

Alice nodded her head

"Well why didn't you go before we set off" Rachel sighed

"Because I thought If we got there quicker I'd get back quicker so I could go and play"

"It doesn't take one minute for you to go to the loo, it's going to take a lot longer now I've got to turn round and go back"

"It's fine you don't have to, I'll just hold on"

"It's a good 20 minutes drive to Mel's, somehow I don't think you'll manage"

Rachel quickly turned round and parked on the drive again

"Chloe do you need to go while we're here"

"No I went before we left"

"Like any sensible person would come on Alice get out"

Alice quickly jumped out and went to the door, and Rachel unlocked it so Alice ran to the downstairs loo.

After a minute or so she materialised

"Come on straight back in the car, Chloe is all by herself"

"Mummy can't you just drop me off at Jess's now so I can play"

"No you can come with me, you know I don't like you playing out when Im not around"

"Okay" Alice huffed

They then all got in the car and drove round

Rachel got the kids out then went to the door

She knocked however there was no answer, she thought Mel might be on the loo or something so left it a minute or so but then knocked again.

"Mel" Rachel called through the letter box, however there was still no answer.

Rachel got her phone and rang the house number but no one picked up so rang Mel's mobile number

"Hello" she heard Mel say but her voice didn't sound right

"Hey Mel, I'm outside with the kids, we're just outside your door"

"Oh I'm sorry I forgot you were coming I've gone out"

"He's not with you is he?"

"No he's gone Rach" Mel said "I told him he had to"

"Good on you, I hope you reported him as well"

"No I couldn't do that" Mel said

"Oh Mel" Rachel sighed "anyway when are you home"

"I'm stopping at a friends tonight"

"But you knew we were coming, I wanted to have a talk with you"

"I'm really sorry Rach, I just forgot"

"Okay well we'll call tomorrow instead then, as long as you're okay"

"I am"

"Good well we'll head back, do you need me to pick up any stuff for you here, if you give me your friends address I'll drop it off"

"No it's fine Rach I've got everything"

"Okay bye then"

Mel quickly said bye and then hung up, Rachel felt glad she'd spoken to her sister but still felt worried about her.

"Auntie Rachel where's mummy" Chloe asked

"Mummy's not in today sweetheart"

"Oh"

"Sorry about that girls come on let's go back to the car"

They all got in the car and drove back home, when they got there they saw that Danny and the girls were all back too

"Mummy can I go and play now" Alice asked

Rachel sighed it was already getting late so she really didn't want Alice going round

"No love stay in tonight"

"But you promised me"

"I said if we had time and we don't" Rachel said

She could tell Alice wasn't going to give up without a pretty big fight

"That's completely unfair I bet you weren't ever going to let me out you just lied, i think it's horrible to lie to me"

Rachel was about to respond but Danny decided to step in as he could tell Rachel was tired

"Hey do as your mum says Alice"

"Shut up, you can't tell me what to do"

"Hey stop that, you don't speak to Danny like that it's completely unacceptable, apologise right now" Rachel said firmly

"No" Alice shouted "this is all your fault you said I could play when we got back, I didn't want to go to auntie Mel's house anyway I don't like her" Alice shouted

Rachel was glad that Charlotte and Chloe were both upstairs in there rooms, she prayed they hadn't heard her

"Well that's a horrible thing to say and the way you're being now is horrible too"

"You're horrible mummy"

"Alice go to your room" Rachel sighed

"No I'm going to go and play"

"No you're going to go to your room right now and stay there" Rachel said

Alice stayed on the spot despite the fact she knew that when her mum was raising her voice like she was now, this wasn't a good idea.

"Go" Rachel shouted

Alice then slammed the kitchen door and went upstairs.

"Bloody hell, she seemed angry"

"Tell me about it, it's my fault though I told her she could play after we got back to shut her up earlier"

"Still a bit of an overreaction though"

"Well that's why I sent her to her room, I've been letting her get away with far too much recently she needs to know the boundaries, anyway come on let's go in the back room and have a coffee"

The two of them went and sat down and started chatting like they always did on an evening

They'd been sat there about 20 minutes and Rachel had completely forgot she'd sent Alice to her room, normally if she sent her up she'd only ever keep her up there about 5 minutes before talking to her.

"God I'd better go and see Alice"

"I'll make a start on tea okay" Danny said

Rachel then smiled at him before making her way upstairs

"Alice you can come out now I want to talk to you" Rachel called

When she didn't get an answer she went up and opened her bedroom door but got a shock when she wasn't there however thought she'd have just got bored and gone in the playroom but looked and saw she wasn't there

"Ellie have you seen Alice" Rachel asked

"No I thought she'd gone to play out I heard You talking and then the front door"

"Oh the little..." Rachel said thinking Alice must have gone to okay round Jess's despite her shouting at her.

Rachel began to feel really angry at her daughter so went downstairs and grabbed her coat as it was quite cold outside.

"Where you going Rach" Danny asked

"Alice has fine to play round Jess's"

"I wouldn't have thought she would have after you telling her off like that"

"Well she has... Just Wait till I get my hands on her"

Rachel opened the front door and went out.

She walked round the corner to Jess's house, it was less than a minutes walk away which was why the girls would always be round each other's houses.

She knocked on the door and shortly after Jess's mum came to the door with her daughter next to her

"Hi Rachel" Jess said

"Hiya Jess"

"Rachel please can Alice come and play round tomorrow"

"I don't think so she shouldn't have come round tonight I told her not too,she's in big trouble"

"What?" Jess's mum asked confused

"Sorry it's just I told Alice not to come round tonight, I sent her to her room and obviously she's come straight round here"

"Rach Alice isn't here" Jess's mum said

"What" Rachel asked as fear flooded through her

"Jess and I have been out all evening at her grandmas we only got back about 2 minutes ago"

"Oh god" Rachel said

"I'm sure she's safe she'll have just gone round someone else's house, do you want a hand finding her"

"No it's fine, she'll have gone round Beth's or something" Rachel said trying to sound positive but really she was terrified.

Rachel then ran back home as she wanted to get Danny

"Danny" Rachel called

Danny picked up at once on how worried Rachel sounded so came running down

"What is it, did you get Alice"

"She hadn't gone round there" Rachel said

"Okay Rach calm down, you knock on her friends doors, I'll drive round and look for her, I'm sure she'll be fine"

The two of them then went our, Rachel was even more worried when she realised if had started to rain and it was actually quite dark

She went round everyone's house that Alice was friends with just to see if they'd seem anything of her but no one had.

After about 20 minutes Rachel was feeling sick with worry and knew if she didn't find her soon they would have to call the police.

She knew Danny would have rang her straight away if he'd seen her but decided to call him anyway

"Danny I still haven't seen her" Rachel said nearly in tears

"Rach it's okay I'm going to come and get you and we'll both get in the car"

Rachel waited for Danny as tears ran down her face, she wished she'd just let Alice go to Jess's at least she'd know she was safe.

Danny came a few minutes later so Rachel got in the car with him.

"Where haven't you tried" Rachel asked

"I don't know we'll keep driving okay"

They drove round for a few more minutes

"The park" Rachel said suddenly "she might have gone there"

Danny quickly drove round and suddenly caught a glimpse of Alice's red coat

"That's her" Rachel said relief flooding through her

Danny looked and saw Alice laughing on the swings with some other girls

"Well she doesn't look too bothered" Danny said

Once Rachel knew Alice was safe her relief suddenly turned to anger, as her emotions were all over the place after being so worried for the last half hour.

Danny quickly got out the car with Rachel and Rachel went walking over.

Alice saw her mum and suddenly felt terrified especially when she saw the look on her face, she hoped she wasn't going to start shouting at her in front of all her friends

"Get in the car" Rachel shouted grabbing hold of Alice's shoulders "have you got any idea how much trouble you're in, I've been worried sick about you for the last 30 minutes,you silly girl"

"Well it was your fault for not letting me out to play"

Rachel's grip tightened around Alice's shoulders and Alice could feel her nails digging right into her

Rachel was about to properly loose her temper but realised she couldn't do this not in front of all the mother kids

"Get in the car Alice" Danny said firmly

Alice didn't dare argue and ran to the car and got straight in

"Do you realise how serious this is, we were going to get the police Alice" Rachel screamed.

"Well I didn't want to stay in my bedroom"

Hearing her daughter sounding so calm caused Rachel's anger to bubble over and she couldn't seem to be able to stop herself from turning round and smacking Alice across the leg.

Rachel hadn't intended to hit her properly just give her a light smack and it hurt Alice a lot more than she'd intended to.

"Rachel leave her" Danny said

Alice started to cry, more from the shock than anything her mum had never hit her before, she'd given her a shake now and then and if she was really naughty threatened to smack her bum but she'd never actually done it.

Rachel was still feeling really angry but she knew it was best for her to keep quiet at the moment, she hoped she hadn't hurt Alice but she knew it would teach her a lesson and wasn't prepared to pander to her now.

"Mummy I'm sorry" Alice sobbed

Rachel was about to say something but Danny thought it was best if he did the talking for now

"Alice me and your mummy had no idea where you were, I don't think you realise how serious it actually is, we were going to call the police, we went in your room and you weren't there and we couldn't find you anywhere you can't put us through that"

"I only wanted to show mummy that she couldn't lie to me" Alice cried

"What so you run off, have me frantic with worry" Rachel screamed

Alice didn't think she'd ever heard her mum sound so angry before and this scared her

"I was going to go round Jess's but she wasn't in so then I found my other friends I thought you'd find me"

"You know what just be quiet Alice I don't want to hear it" Rachel shouted "and when you get In you go straight upstairs and go to your room" Rachel said " and you can flaming well stay there" she added

"Mum where was she" Ellie asked appearing from the kitchen

"Oh you know what don't even get me started" Rachel sighed before walking into the living room and plonking herself down on the sofa

"Girls it might be an idea to stay out of Rachel's way for a bit she's not feeling great"

"Was Alice naughty" Chloe asked

"Yes a bit" Danny replied

"Should I make Her a coffee" Charlotte asked

"I think a red wine would be more what she needs"

Charlotte smiled before pouring a glass and bringing it through to her auntie l

"Thanks love" Rachel said smiling weakly

The three girls then all went upstairs and watched the tv

"Rachel are you okay" Danny asked feeling sorry for her as she had tears in her eyes clearly still very distressed

"Oh god I can't believe I hit her, what sort of mother does that" Rachel sighed "I was just so panicked"

"Most mothers, Rach she'll get over it honestly she will you must have had a smack or two when you were younger"

"I know but ... I don't want to make her frightened of me"

"Come on Rachel she's not frightened of you, giving a kid a light smack on the leg doesn't make you an abusive mother you know" Danny said smiling slightly

"You know Chloe was worried I was going to hurt her earlier and I told her if never lay I finger on any child"

"Rach there's no lint worrying, she needed a telling off and you gave her one, you had every right to be angry"

"Do you think I should go and see her"

"I wouldn't I think you both need some time away from each other right now don't you"

"She'll need someone to go up though and tuck her in"

"I'll do it, you calm yourself down"

"You sound like me when I'm talking to the kids" Rachel said laughing slightly

Danny smiled before going up to Alice's room, when she was there he saw Alice crying into her pillow, she had her little teddy bear pyjamas on, making her look no older than about 4 she looked so cute Danny couldn't stand seeing her so upset, and it made tears almost come to Danny's eyes seeing her cry

"Please don't shout Danny" she begged

"I'm not going to, your mum sent me to come and tuck you in" Danny said "have you been to the bathroom"

"Yes"

"Come on into bed"

Alice got into bed and Danny tried to get her comfy

"Does mummy hate me" Alice sobbed

"No mummy doesn't hate you"

"But I made her really angry"

"The only reason she got like that is because she cares about you so much, the thought of anything happening to you got her really worried"

"What if she stays angry with me forever though"

"Alice you must know the one thing your mums truly awful at doing is staying cross with you, she loves you too much for that"

"I really am sorry though"

"I know you are, come tomorrow morning your mummy will have calmed down so she'll have a proper chat then, but for now just stay up here and read your book or something I know you probably won't go to sleep for an hour or so because it's quite early but just stay quiet okay"

"Okay" Alice said trying to stop herself crying

Danny kissed her on the top of her head before leaving to go and see Rachel

"Was she okay" Rachel asked the minute Danny came down

"She was really upset, she thinks you hate her"

"Of course I don't hate her, I'm just so angry with her" Rachel sighed

"You feeling better"

"Yes a bit calmer, I still feel so shaken up from it all though, I honestly thought I might not find her"

"I know Rach" Danny said "why don't we watch tv for a bit"

"Yeah I'll go up and see her in an hour or so, but the thing is I want her to know what she did was wrong still, I feel awful for hitting her but not for telling her off"

"Well that's fair enough"

Rachel out the tv on and her and Danny watched for about an hour but then Rachel realised it was time to Chloe to bed

She went upstairs and found all three girls in the upstairs tv room.

"Come on Chloe it's bedtime now love"

Chloe got up straight away and went to the bathroom, Rachel waited with her and then got her into her pyjamas before putting her to bed.

Rachel then opened Alice's bedroom door as she did she saw the bedroom light quickly go off so knew Alice was going to now pretend to be asleep.

"Alice" Rachel said her voice gentler than it had been before "look I know perfectly well you can still hear me, but I also know you're feeling pretty scared of me at the moment" Rachel sighed

Alice still kept her eyes shut determined not to open them as she didn't want Rachel to start shouting at her again

"Alice look I shouldn't have hit you and I'm really sorry I did, I was just so shocked" Rachel said "but you need to know why what you did was so out of order"

Rachel realised she wasn't going to talk to her so left.

A few hours passed and Rachel and Danny had now gone to bed and everyone was asleep but Alice.

She was so worried about her mum and everything that had gone on that she felt sick, she couldn't seem to stop crying. Rachel had come up again before she went to bed and had actually kissed her on the forehead thinking she was asleep but this didn't really make her feel any better she kept crying, so much that she actually finished up being sick all over her bed but this made her cry even more as she thought it would make her mum shout again but realised she'd have to tell her so crept out of bed and into her room feeling shivery from being sick.

Rachel had been asleep about 20 minutes when she suddenly became aware of someone stood next to her so opened her eyes.

Her heart melted when she saw Alice stood there shivering in floods of tears

" don't shout" Alice cried

"What's happened Alice?" Rachel asked sounding quite sleepy still

"I've been sick" Alice sobbed

"Where have you been sick, did you get to the toilet"

"N..noo" Alice stammered feeling terrified

"Okay well I'll come and sort it out then"

Rachel got out of bed and put her slippers and dressing gown on before going into Alice's room, she turned the light on but it was only then that she realised how bad a state she'd got herself in, she was all sweat hand her face was pale, and tears were still falling from her eyes

"You sit down Alice and get those pyjamas off there covered in sick" Rachel said "actually it's gone in your hair too, you're probably better off going in the bath"

"Are you going to shout at me again"

"No" Rachel said simply "we can have a chat while you're in the bath come on get those pyjamas off I'll chuck them in the wash with your sheets"

Alice took her pyjamas off and gave them to her mum.

Rachel started running Alice's bath before going downstairs and chucking everything in the wash before putting fresh sheets on the bed

"Come on come with me into the bathroom"

Rachel took hold of Alice's hand and took her in, she'd only just started running the bath so out the lid down on the toilet seat and sat down.

Alice didn't know what to do so just stood there shivering not knowing if Rachel was still angry or not

"Come and sit on my knee"

Alice went over and sat down in her mum and began to cry into her

"It's alright love" Rachel soothed

"I'm really sorry mummy"

"I think I can tell you are by the fact you've got yourself in this state, have you had any sleep"

"No I was too worried"

"I know, believe it or not I'm really sorry too, I shouldn't have shouted like I did, I didn't mean to frighten you this much I promise I didn't" Rachel said "the thing is Alice if I didn't care about you I wouldn't have reacted the way I did, you and Ellie mean everything to me and when I couldn't find you I thought you might be in danger that's why I was in such a state"

"I really didn't mean to make you so worried" Alice mumbled

"I know you didn't, you were just being a bit stroppy, but you can't ever do that to me again okay"

"I won't, I just wanted to go and play"

"I know but lesson learnt in future you listen to what I say, even if you don't like it and that way we won't ever find ourselves in a situation like this again okay"

"I promise I'll listen to you and never run off again"

"Good girl" Rachel said kissing the top of her forehead lovingly "and one thing I truly am sorry for is hitting the top of your leg though I dare say you deserved it"

"It's okay it didn't really hurt, I was just upset because you were mad at me"

"Well I'm sorry for getting so mad, anyway jump in your bath now"

Alice quickly got off her mums knee and got in the bath.

Rachel got a jug and poured water over her head before massaging shampoo into her scalp.

Knowing her mum wasn't mad at her anymore and having her massaging her head soothed Alice a lot, and she started to relax and feel sleepy.

"Alice try and stay awake for me my love just till I've got this shampoo off"

Alice tried her best to stay awake but by the time her mum had dried her hair off and got her into pyjamas she really was feeling tired

Rachel out her in bed

"Come in with me mummy I want a cuddle" Alice said

Rachel decided after everything that had happened Alice deserved a little TLC so got In next to her and wrapped her arms around her.

"Mummy I love you lots and lots"

"Well that's good because I love you lots and lots too, and no matter how much trouble you get into I'm always going to love you lots and lots"

"Really"

"Yes love really" Rachel said "I might get very angry sometimes like I was earlier and still am sort of missus but when I am angry it's not because I don't love you it's because I care"

"I know, I'm glad your my mummy" Alice said sleepily

"Well I'm glad I am too, I don't know anyone else who could cope with the stress you put me through"

Alice laughed a little at this "would you ever get me adopted"

"No sweetheart I wouldn't dream of it, not in a million years, I couldn't ask for a better daughter than you, I don't know what I'd do without you love"

"Mummy do you promise I can always stay with you"

"I promise, cross my heart"

"If I go to the toilet will you still be in my bed when I get back"

" do you want me to stay in all night I thought you just wanted a cuddle"

"No I want you to stay all night"

"Okay love, Danny will get a shock on the morning when he realises I'm not there won't he"

"Will he get angry like you were"

"You never know" Rachel said smiling "anyway you go to the loo then we'll go to sleep"

Alice quickly got out of her warm double bed and went to the toilet quickly before going back, she loved it when Rachel would stay in her bed if she was upset or something because she liked being able to cuddle into her and she kept her all warm through the night.

When she got back in Rachel brought her close and they cuddled up again

"Can we talk for a bit before we go to sleep" Alice asked she always loved chatting to her mum when they were in bed, as she felt so relaxed she felt she could tell her anything

"Darling it's really late" Rachel said "we'll talk for 10 minutes then go to sleep yeah"

Alice kept talking to her mum for a while but then got so tried she fell asleep anyway, with Rachel just next to her.

Please review xxxxxx


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

It was a Friday and school had just finished for the day, Chloe and Charlotte had gone back to Mel's last week, so it was just Rachel and the girls in that weekend as Danny was away with work, it felt really strange having such a quiet house as they'd gotten really used to having Charlotte and Chloe round so it seemed so different without them there.

Rachel waited up in her office for Ellie to come up, it would just be the two of them going home in the car because Alice had wanted to walk home with Jess and her mum instead of going in the car, Rachel knew that this was because since the incident with Alice going missing last week Rachel hadn't let her play out as a sort of punishment so she wanted to spend as much time as she could with her friends.

Rachel waited a while bit couldn't see anything of Ellie, she wondered if she'd maybe gone to a friends house or something however it would be very unlike Ellie not to tell her as she knew how worried Rachel would be she got her phone out of her bag to check to see if Ellie had tried calling her but realised she hadn't so just waited.

After about 10 minutes Ellie finally came up looking a bit flustered

"You've been ages i was about to go looking for you" Rachel said

"Sorry mum" Ellie said

"Where were you, I was beginning to get worried"

"Gemmas mum was late home from work so she wanted me to wait with her while she got there"

Rachel sighed before grabbing her coat and putting it on and then got her handbag.

"Well you could have texted or something"

"Okay, okay I'm sorry"

Rachel then locked her office up for the weekend and the two of them went out to the car. Ellie felt a bit nervous as there way something she needed to tell her mum, but wanted to wait until she was sure she was in a good mood before she said anything.

"So you had a nice day" Rachel asked once they were both in the car

"I guess so you?"

"Not too bad actually, it's been pretty hectic though"

"You're days are always hectic" Ellie Said laughing

"True"

They'd been driving a little while when Ellie decided her mum was in a pretty good mood so decided to just tell her and get it out the way with.

"Mum"

"Yes"

"Will you sign something for me"

"We'll not unless you tell me what it is"

"Just a note" Ellie said

"What sort of a note"

Ellie sighed wishing her mum wasn't always so bothered about these sort of things, she was sure most other parents would just sign it without properly looking but not Rachel.

"Well the thing is you know when I said I was waiting with Gemma"

"Yes" Rachel said wondering where this was going

"Well that wasn't the exact truth"

"Oh so What Is the exact truth then" Rachel asked trying to concentrate on the road at the same time, which was always particularly busy at this time.

"I had to stay behind at the end of maths"

"To get told what a wonderful student you are I presume" Rachel Said a little sarcastically, raising her eyebrows

"Not exactly"

"So what was if for then"

"Well I'd sort of got into a bit of trouble"

Rachel rolled her eyes, Friday afternoons were always a likely time for Ellie to get into trouble, she was always too excited for the weekend to properly concentrate.

"Why, what happened" Rachel asked hoping it wasn't anything too serious as she never liked to spend her evening shouting at the kids, especially Friday nights.

"Well it wasn't anything too bad, I was just talking too much and I went on my phone but when sit asked I wouldn't give him it and then he sent me to see you but I sort of didn't go"

"I hope you realise that's completely unacceptable, you absolutely should not be on your phone in lessons, especially maths lessons, I know it's not exactly you're favourite subject but It's so so important Ellie really it it and if a teacher tells you to do something you do it straight away no questions asked"

Ellie sighed she hated it when her mum started to go on and on about things, it would really get on her nerves some of the time.

"Well I said I'm sorry" Ellie snapped

"Hey mind your tone please, now pass me you're phone"

Ellie groaned she hated it when her mum took her phone off, but Rachel knew this was the knew thing that really worked on teenagers.

"But mum ..."

"But nothing phone now"

"You're so unreasonable" Ellie moaned however Rachel decided to ignore her and just took the phone and pocketed it.

"Are you going to sign my thing or not?" Ellie asked rather rudely

"Funnily enough no I'm not, while I'm in the middle of driving"

"Fine"

"And I want you to write a letter of apology to your maths teacher"

"That's so gay"

"Hey stop saying that, I've told you about that far too many times I'm not having it" Rachel scolded

"Yes miss" Ellie said rolling her eyes

She was beginning fed up of her mum now, it seemed she'd got it wrong when she thought she was in a good mood

"Stop with the cheek"

"Fine but can you stop nagging at me"

"I'm not nagging"

"Yes you are" Ellie said

She then stared out the window for a while and Rachel continued to drive for a bit. Ellie had wanted to go round her friends house for a while tonight but she guessed her mum wouldn't let her go now which was a shame as she'd been looking forward to it through today.

"Mum I know you're probably going to say no but can I go over to Sophie's tonight"

"What time?"

"In about an hour or so"

"Well okay I guess so but I want you to make a start on homework first okay"

"I've only got english so I'll be able to finish it"

"Good because I was thinking we could maybe go out shopping tomorrow if you fancy"

"Yeah that'd be really good"

A minute or so later they pulled up on the drive and went in.

As usual Ellie went straight upstairs to get changed out of her uniform and Into her comfy clothes.

After a couple of minutes Rachel knocked on Ellie's door before coming in

"Pass me your school stuff love"

Ellie finished putting her top on before handing her mum her uniform

"What times Alice back mum, is she staying at Jess's"

"Anytime now I think, she's not allowed out remember"

"I didn't think you'd actually keep it up with her" Ellie said

Normally Rachel wouldn't normally stick to the punishments she gave Alice, though she tried her best to as she'd get really clingy and whiny if Rachel kept her in the house all the time.

"Well I have done, she needs to know she can't get away with everything, anyway are you going to come down now and do some work"

"May as well" Ellie said "mum how long are you keeping my phone for"

"Till tomorrow evening"

"That isn't fair, what if I need to ring you while I'm at Sophie's"

"You'll have to use her house phone"

Ellie sighed but didn't argue anymore

The two of them then went down to the kitchen and Ellie got her homework out and started on it straight away, a few minutes passed and suddenly Alice opened the door.

"Hey love " Rachel called however Alice didn't reply and just went straight up to her room

Rachel thought this was quite strange as there was no way Alice would just go up to her room without talking to her first so went up after her.

"Alice" Rachel called when she saw her daughter close her bedroom door.

Rachel quickly went up and opened Alice's door and saw her laid on her pillow, and then Rachel looked closely she could see tears swimming in her eyes,

She instantly went over and rated beside her on the bed

"Hey what's happened?"

"Nothing, I'm just poorly" Alice lied

Rachel put her arm around her and Alice began to cry into her

"You see I think there's two types of poorly isn't there?" Rachel said "you can be poorly because you're unwell or you can be poorly because you're a little bit upset about something but don't really fancy saying what, so which is it?"

"Poorly because I'm upset" Alice cried

"What's upset you sweetheart"

"Just stuff"

"Come on darling you can tell me"

"Me and Josie had an argument she was being really mean to me and she pushed me over and I cut all my knees but I started crying and she called me a baby"

"Well that wasn't very nice was it? Why was she being mean to you"

"I don't know she just was"

"Right well then let her get on with it, you've got plenty of other friends haven't you? And there still okay with you aren't they"

"Yes"

"Did you and Jess have a nice time walking back together"

"Yeah she said she's been bored when I haven't be able to come round because she's got no One to play with, she asked when I could come out again"

Rachel thought for a moment she'd intended to let Alice out again sometime soon and thought having some time with Jess might do her good as she had been miserable when she hadn't been allowed out

"Well I'll tell you what we'll do a deal"

"What"

"You can go and play round Jess's house tonight if you want for a couple of hours but I want you on your best behaviour for the rest of the weekend"

"So I can really go out"

"Yes"

"Thanks mummy I'll get changed" Alice said sounding excited now

Alice quickly got her school uniform off and gave it to Rachel.

She then went in her drawers and got a skirt and top out.

"Are you sure you want to wear a skirt"

"Yes"

Rachel knew there was no point arguing so just left her to it

She was about to go down when she saw Ellie scowling

"What's up with you" Rachel asked

"Sophie cancelled on me"

"How do you know"

"She texted me saying her brother was back from London so they were going out"

"Well how did you manage to look at your texts when I have your phone"

"Because you left it on the kitchen worktop and it kept vibrating" Ellie sighed

"Well Alice is going round to Jess's now"

"Great so my 6 year old little sister has a better social life than I do"

"Well if you want me and you can go shopping now and then you can arrange to go out with your friends tomorrow"

Ellie liked the sound of this, she always loved going shopping with her mum, well in particular with her mums purse.

"Yeah sounds good"

Rachel was about to say something else but there was a knock on the door, so she quickly went to answer.

When she opened the door she was surprised to see Jess there

"Hey Jess"

"Rachel I know Alice is in trouble still but please can she come round mine"

"Yeah actually I've told her she can go round to yours tonight, though I can get her now"

"Yay I've missed her coming round"

"Well she'd been a very naughty girl that's why she wasn't allowed round, anyway come inside" Rachel said

Jess then stepped inside and wiped her shoes on the Mat

"Alice Jess is here for you" Rachel called

When she didn't get an answer Rachel went up

"Alice come down Jess is here"

"I'm on the toilet" Alice shouted

Rachel then went back down to wait with Jess

"She's just on the loo she'll be down soon, can if get you anything?"

"Please can I have a drink of water" Jess asked

"Course you can, are you sure you just want water? I've got some cans of lemonade and coke in the fridge"

"I'll just have water thank you"

Rachel went into the kitchen and got her a glass.

A minute or so later Alice came down.

"Right me and Ellie are going out for an hour or so I'll pick you up when we get back, if there's any problems Jess's mum had my number so she'll call"

"Bye mum"

"See you later love"

Rachel waited at the door while the two of them walked off, but she suddenly realised that Alice's skirt was tucked into her knickers at the back and she knew how embarrassed she'd be if Jess spotted this.

She tried to think of a way to discreetly get it out but this would be quite hard so she walked quickly up to her.

"Alice come over here I need to ask you a quick question"

Alice was a but puzzled but walked across with her mum leaving Jess stood on the drive.

"What do you want mummy"

"Turn round"

Alice did as her mum asked and Rachel quickly sorted her skirt out

"You had your skirt tucked into your knickers"

"Jess didn't see did she?" Alice asked worried

"Nope, go on go and catch up with her"

Alice ran ahead and Rachel smiled as the two of them walked down together, there friendship always did been really sweet.

Rachel walked back in the house and saw Ellie waiting at the door

"Should we get going then"

"Yes please"

Rachel grabbed her car keys and unlocked the car, Ellie got in the front beside her mum.

"Mum pretty please can I have my phone back" Ellie asked sweetly

Rachel rolled her eyes but reached in her pocket to give it to her.

"If I hear any more reports about you having it out in lessons I'll be keeping it for the week you got that?"

"Yep"

Ellie suddenly heard her phone beep so looked at it and realised a boy in the year above was asking her and some of her other friends to go to a party tonight, she really wanted to go because all her friends were going and she'd never really been to a proper party before but knew if she asked her mum she'd just say no.

"Mum Gemma's text me she was wondering if I could go round hers to sleep tonight"

"That's a bit short notice isn't it"

"Well she's having a few of us round it's kind of a last minute thing"

"Well I wanted everyone in tonight, It's not often I get the two of you to myself is it?"

"There always tomorrow night though, please can I go?"

"I guess so" Rachel sighed

"Thanks mum"

Rachel quickly finished driving to town and then got out.

"Do you mind if I have a quick look in boots love, I just need to get a few things, we seem to b running low on toiletries"

"Yeah that's fine, I need to buy a new mascara anyway"

"You mean you want me to buy you a new mascara" Rachel said

Ellie smiled before holding her mums arm and walking down to boots

When they were inside Rachel wandered off and found some of the things she needed, Ellie found a mascara pretty quickly but then saw the hair dyes, she'd wanted to dye her hair for a while now but always presumed her mum would say no, but thought it would be worth a try just asking her

"Hey love, you need anything else"

"Mum please could I dye my hair"

"You don't need to dye your hair it's lovely"

"I just want to go a bit lighter that's all"

"Well I wouldn't want you to dye it yourself, I'll tell you what I've got a hair appointment on Thursday next week so I'll ask then about maybe getting it highlighted"

"Really?"

"Yeah if you really want"

"Thanks mum you're the best" Ellie said smiling

Rachel took Ellie's stuff and went over to pay for everything

"Where next"

"Can we go to hollister"

"Oh god do we have to? You can't see a thing, which is probably there intention, so we can't see how ridiculously overpriced everything is till we get to the till"

"But they have really nice stuff in there"

"Fine we'll go in but I'm not spending ages there"

The two of them walked in and after a while Ellie saw a skirt and top she really liked. After quite a bit of persuasion she eventually managed to convince her mum to get it for her.

They went round a few more shops but then realised that they would need to get back or Alice would be home before they were.

"Thanks for buying me all this stuff mum"

"It's no problem but it's our last shop for a while Ellie, i seem to have spent loads this month"

"I know but that's because we went on a few days out places when Charlotte and Chloe were here"

"True but we need to watch what we're spending a bit more"

"Why do we have money problems? We're not bankrupt are we"

Rachel laughed at this "no darling we're not bankrupt, do you really think I would have suggested taking you shopping if we were? It's not that we have money problems, it's just that like most people at the moment we need to be a bit careful"

"Okay"

Rachel pulled up on there drive a couple of minutes later and almost as soon as she did Alice arrived back

"Hey love did you have a nice time at Jess's"

"Yeah it was really fun"

"Good"

The evening went by quickly and before long it was time for Rachel to take Ellie to Gemma's, Ellie's plan was to go to Gemma's and get changed for the party, Gemma's mum had always been really laid back and was never to bothered what her daughter was up to, so she was going to take them to the party and then pick them up later

The three of them got in the car and Rachel drove round

"Bye mum"

"Wait I want to have a quick word with Gemma's mum first"

"No you can't" Ellie said

"Why"

"Because it'll look really weird, do you want me to look like some sort of freak"

"I hardly think me wanting to check everything's okay with Gemma's mum makes you look like a freak" Rachel sighed "but okay I'm going to watch you go in though"

"What in case I get abducted on my way to the door"

"Well you never know"

Ellie laughed and gave her mum a kiss goodbye, she did feel guilty lying to her but she felt she didn't have any other choice

Rachel watched as she went in before going back in the car with Alice

"Looks like it's just me and you then"

"I like it when it's like this"

"So do I, you fancy doing anything special tonight seeing as it's just the two of us"

"Can we have a pizza and movie night"

"Yep course we can if that's what you want we can go out though if you fancy"

"No i want to stay in with you"

"Okay then love"

Rachel smiled to herself before driving home

"It's already getting late do Why don't we get you bathed and into your pyjamas then I'll ring for a takeaway and we can get all cosy on the sofa"

"Yeah that sounds good"

Rachel went up and started running a bath and a few minutes later she called Alice up.

Alice quickly took her clothes off and got in and Rachel put the toilet lid down and sat down.

"Mummy when's Danny home"

"Monday love, why?"

"I don't like it when he's away"

"Well I'm sure he misses you lots when he's away"

"Does Danny like me"

"Course he does, do you really think I'd let anyone in the house who doesn't like you?"

Alice smiled before getting out some of her bath toys and playing with them as Rachel watched her laughing to herself.

Rachel finished bathing her before drying her hair off and putting her in her favourite pyjamas.

She decided to get into her pyjamas too while she was up here before going downstairs and ordering there takeaway.

"Mummy please can we watch the parent trap"

"Oh I love that film, I haven't seen if in ages"

The two of them got sat down and Rachel wrapped a blanket over the pair of them before putting it on.

They were about 15 minutes in when there was a knock at the door, Rachel quickly got up and saw it was the pizza, so paid the delivery man before sitting back down with Alice and tucking in.

Towards the end of the film Alice began to get really sleepy so closed her eyes and rested her head against her mums chest.

By the time it had finished Alice was fast asleep on Rachel so she picked her up and put her over her shoulder.

Rachel was going to just out her straight to bed but realised it would be a bad idea not to make her go to the toilet first especially when she'd had a lot to drink.

"Alice wake up a sec love"

Alice reluctantly opened her eyes

"Just go for a quick wee before you go to bed"

"No I don't want to" Alice moaned

"It'll only take a minute go on"

Still half asleep Alice went to the toilet before Rachel picked her up again and tucked her up in bed

"Night sweetheart" Rachel whispered

As soon as Alice was asleep again Rachel went downstairs and made herself a coffee before putting her glasses on and reading the next chapter of her book.

She'd been sat reading for about 20 minutes when there was a knock at the door, so she quickly put her book down and went to answer wondering who on earth it could be at this time.

Rachel got a shock when she saw it was Gemma's mum and her daughter was by her side

"Hey what's happened"

"Well they both came home from the party they'd been to and I think they've been drinking so I thought I was best off bringing her home so you could look after her"

"What party I thought that they were just sleeping"

"Erm no Ellie told me you knew they were going to this party, I didn't realise they'd be alcohol there though or I wouldn't have even thought of letting Gemma go"

"I had absolutely no idea" Rachel sighed "thanks for bringing her back, I'm really sorry about this"

Gemma's mum quickly said bye leaving Rachel and Ellie alone

"Right get in" Rachel said

It was only when she started staggering in that Rachel realised how drunk she really was, Rachel felt completely let down by Ellie but knew there was no point shouting now as none of it would go in.

"Ellie you're 13 years old for gods sake" Rachel sighed "how could you lie to me like this"

Rachel led her through to the kitchen and tried to sit her down and got some cold water for her

"Drink this"

Ellie gulped it down however suddenly she was sick all over herself and the kitchen floor

"Oh bloody hell" Rachel sighed exasperated "could you not have gone to the toilet if you were feeling sick" she snapped immediately starting to clean the floor

"Sorry" Ellie slurred but then suddenly she started sobbing

Rachel sighed as she finished cleaning the floor before going over to Ellie

"Now stop that crying come on go and get yourself changed, god things like this certainly make me feel my age"

"I didn't mean to drink" Ellie sobbed

"Well I hardly imagine it was forced down your throat" Rachel said

"This boy spiked loads of people's drinks"

"Well that's exactly why I don't want you going to parties, at the moment you're far far too young, but you don't seem to listen to a single flaming word I say"

Rachel then helped her daughter upstairs and got her changed

"I want to go to bed" Ellie slurred

"I want you to come in my bed tonight where I can keep my eye on you" Rachel said as the last thing she wanted was Ellie getting seriously Ill in the night and her knowing nothing about it

"And in the morning you and I are having some serious words and I mean that"

Rachel then helped Ellie into her bed before getting in next to her.

Ellie woke early the next morning with a very sore head she started to remember last night and why she'd finished up in her mums bed and a tear ran down her cheek.

Rachel woke up a few minutes later and could head Ellie crying next to her

"Ellie are you crying?" Rachel asked

"No" Ellie lied

"Turn round"

Ellie turned to face her mum

Rachel sighed when she saw her and put her arm round her

"Come on we all make mistakes Ellie"

"I know but I've really let you down, I'm so sorry for lying I didn't think anything bad would happen"

"You're right in thinking I would have said no last night you know, if you'd have asked about the party, but I don't say no that often and when I do it is for a reason"

"I know"

"So I'm not going to go on and on about last night I don't think there's any point I think you know why what you did was so wrong and there won't be a repeat" Rachel said "so if you're prepared to accept my punishment then we'll say no more about it"

"What's you punishment" Ellie asked a little wearily

"Grounded for 2 weeks and no phone or laptop unless it's for homework"

"Fair enough"

"More than fair I'd say"

Ellie put her arms round her mum and cuddled up to her however a couple of minutes later Alice came in wanting a cuddle

"Why are you in here Ellie"

"She came in for a cuddle too didn't you"

"Yep"

"But I want a cuddle"

"Well I've got two arms haven't i?"

Rachel put her arm round Alice and the three of them stayed cuddled up for a while

Please review xxxx


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

It was a Friday night and they were all getting ready to go out for a meal, Rachel got herself ready first so she could then concentrate on getting Alice ready as if Alice was being fussy sometimes this could take quite a while. They were going to quite a nice restaurant so they all wanted to look nice, they were meeting up with some friends when they were there so everyone was really looking forward to if.

Once Rachel had finished applying her makeup she went into Alice's room and saw her sat on her bed.

"Hey love" Rachel said smiling "come on let's get you dressed"

When Alice didn't move Rachel knelt down beside her

"What's up?"

"I don't feel very well mummy, I've got a really sore tummy"

Rachel put her hand in her forehead and realised she did feel a little warm, which wasn't exactly good news when they were going to a restaurant.

"When did that start" Rachel asked

"When I came home from school"

"Well probably best just taking it easy then, don't go ordering any massive triple chocolate deserts however nice they look" Rachel said

This was one thing Alice always did seem to do whenever they went out, she'd spend ages pestering her mum an Danny to get her something even if they said she wouldn't ever be able to

Eat it all and would eat It all just to prove her point and finish up feeling really sick after. Rachel thought back to the time a couple of months ago when they went out and Alice had ordered a massive slice of incredibly sickly chocolate cake, eaten it all, but finished up being sick all over the taxi they were going home in.

"I won't" Alice said

"Good, anyway are you still okay to wear those trousers and top we decided on?" Rachel asked hoping she would be because she could really do without the hassle of trying to find something else.

Alice nodded her head so Rachel went and got her things out

"Do you think you should go to the loo before you put these on, it's just it'll be a bit of a faff with that button on your trousers"

"Okay"

Alice disappeared and came back a couple of minutes later, Rachel smiled at her before getting her changed.

"You look lovely sweetheart"

Alice smiled and looked in her mirror, she did look very cute.

Rachel then started doing Alice's hair for her, like she always did if they were going out anywhere special, however suddenly Alice began to feel really sick

"Mummy I really don't feel well" Alice said

"What is your tummy still sore" Rachel asked

Alice nodded but suddenly turned really pale

"Get to the toilet" Rachel said instantly, knowing what was going to happen next.

Alice got up and darted to the toilet and started being sick

When she'd finished Rachel put the lid down and put Alice on her knee as tears streamed down her face

"Oh dear you're really not well are you"

"I still feel poorly"

Rachel sighed not knowing what to do, there was no way they could go to the restaurant if Alice was feeling like this as it would probably end it disaster, but she also knew how much everyone had been looking forward to it so didn't want to stop them going

"Danny can you come up here a moment" Rachel shouted

Hearing Rachel's voice, Danny came running up to the bathroom and saw Rachel sat with Alice on her knee

"Alice what's happened?" Danny asked sounding worried

"She's not well Danny, she's been sick"

"Oh no well do you want me to ring Chris and tell him we can't make it"

"No you and Ellie go I'll stay with Alice"

"Are you sure? I don't mind staying home and looking after her, you've been looking forward to tonight"

"I know but they'll be other nights won't there, go on you go and have a nice time love"

"Well if me and Ellie are going we'd better be getting off now, are you sure you'll be okay here"

"Darling I'm old enough to look after myself I promise, go on have a nice time" Rachel said laughing

Danny then gave Rachel and Alice a quick kiss before rounding Ellie up and going out.

"I'm sorry mummy" Alice said

"What for love"

"Being sick and spoiling your night"

"Oh don't you be sorry about anything sweetie, it's not like it can be helped is it, come on jump up off my knee, have a little lie down for a bit"

Alice got up and Rachel decided to put her in her bed as Rachel's room was always slightly cooler than Alice's so she thought this might bring her temperature down a bit. Rachel stayed with Alice for a bit however Alice finished up getting quite tired and falling asleep so Rachel took off the dress she'd been planning to go out in and started getting on with some housework.

She'd been working for about 10 minutes when suddenly she heard the house phone ringing to put down her ironing and went to answer.

"Hello" she said cheerily

"Rachel I really need you" Rachel was surprised when she heard charlottes voice and felt concerned when she heard how frantic she sounded

"Okay well you've for hold of me and I'm not going to go anywhere so calm down and tell me what's happened" Rachel said calmly

"It's mum...please Rach you've got to come now" Charlotte said though floods of tears

"okay I'm going to come down right now, don't worry I'm not going to let anything bad happen but you've got to tell me basically what's happened" Rachel said feeling really concerned

"Mum went in the bathroom about half an hour or go and we heard her crying loads and loads and we've tried getting her out but she hadn't come and now she's stopped talking"

"Oh god" Rachel said "right I'll be there as soon as I possibly can I promise"

Charlotte then Hung up and Rachel quickly put the phone back

"Alice come down" Rachel shouted but then she remembered she'd fallen asleep so raced upstairs and shook her awake

"What's happening mummy" Alice said dazed

"We need to go love come on"

Alice was confused but got out of her mums bed and followed her to the car.

"Where are going mummy"

"To auntie Mel's, I don't think she's feeling well"

Alice still didn't properly understand but sat back in her seat as her mum drove to Mel's.

Rachel immediately ran to the door and went in.

She was greeted by chloe crying hysterically, Rachel scooped the little girl up in her arms and ran upstairs

"Rachel she's not saying anything" Charlotte sobbed clearly terrified as Chloe just continued to sob

"Right Charlotte take Chloe" Rachel ordered giving Chloe to her eldest niece.

Rachel tried picking the lock on the door but it didn't work so put all her weight against it and after a few really hard pushed it gave way and Rachel went in.

She saw her sister slumped against the bath with a smashed bottle of vodka on the floor and boxes of sleeping tablets beside her. Rachel gasped when she saw her and had to refrain herself from screaming.

Chloe and charlotte walked in and Chloe started screaming when she saw her and Charlotte burst into tears

"Girls get out of the way" Rachel said sounding frantic

The girls went Into the spare room, despite the tears running freely down charlottes face she tried to console her sister

Rachel called for an ambulance and then rang her mum thinking she'd be the best one to go to hospital with Mel as if she were to go it would mean bringing the girls too and all things considered this wouldn't be a good idea.

Rachel crouched down next to her sister tears running down her face, she couldn't believe she'd try to do this to herself.

The minutes seemed to drag but eventually the paramedics were there they got Mel in the ambulance and Rachel's mum went in with her, though Rachel felt awful leaving her as seeing her daughter had clearly shocked her mum enormously.

Rachel watched as she went tears falling down her, she felt so distant and faint but knew she needed to be the strong one for now.

In the distance she could here Chloe screaming, so went upstairs and into Mel's room and saw Charlotte with both Chloe and Alice on her knee all three of them crying uncontrollably

"I want mummy" Chloe sobbed

Rachel didn't know what to say to this so went over and lifted Chloe up in her arms and she continued to cry onto her hysterically.

"Mummy's gone to hospital my love, but all the doctors there are going to look after her really well and I'm sure she's going to be just fine"

"What was wrong with her why wasn't she moving" Alice asked

Rachel didn't know how to explain in a way the two little girls would understand but she certainly didn't want to tell them the truth

"Well you know when you're poorly and I give you some medicine to make you better, but only I can give you it because if you have too much it can make you very poorly" Rachel said

Alice nodded

"Well auntie Mel accidentally took a bit too much medicine"

"But you said you could die if you took too much" Alice sobbed

Rachel tapped her lightly on the leg and gave her a look which told her to be quiet, but she wasn't in time for Chloe not to hear

"Is mummy going to die" Chloe said bursting Into a fresh flood of tears

"No darling the doctors are going to make her better" Rachel soothed

Chloe continued to sob into her auntie and ended up getting herself so worked up she threw up all down herself and Rachel

"Oh dear" Rachel sighed

"I'm sorry I couldn't help" Chloe cried

"I know" Rachel said "come on let's get you changed and pack a bag each"

"Are we going to stay at yours till mummy's better" Chloe asked

"Yeah if that's okay with you two"

Charlotte then went up to her room, Rachel knew she'd have to have a chat with her later as unlike Chloe and Alice she would have and she knew how much of an awful shock it would have been, just like it was for Rachel.

"Come on girls let's go up"

Rachel and Alice both went upstairs and into Alice's bedroom.

"I can't believe you were sick all over mummy" Alice said causing Chloe's cheeks to blush

"It was only an hour or so ago that you were sick" Rachel said

"Yes but I didn't do it all over you"

"Well I seem to remember you Doing that plenty of times as well" Rachel said

Rachel took Chloe's top off her and out a fresh one on

"Mummy you smell"

"Well I'm going to get changed now, you don't think mummy will mind me borrowing one of her tops"

"She's in hospital so she won't know"

Rachel squeezed her leg and smiled weakly at her "It will be okay you know, I'll ring grandma in a bit and find out what's happening"

Chloe and Alice then followed Rachel into Mel's room, before she got changed Rachel stepped out the room away from the two little girls and called Danny and let him know what was going on, he was really shocked when he found out and left with Ellie straight away.

Rachel went back into the room and found Chloe crying again

"Oh sweetheart come on it's okay" Rachel soothed "I'd give you a cuddle but I doubt you'd want to cuddle up to me at the moment"

Rachel felt a bit weird going through her sisters wardrobe but it couldn't really be helped, she found a jumper, so took her top off and put it over her head.

"Right you two wait here a sec I just want to have a chat with Charlotte"

Rachel left Mel's room and went into charlottes and found her sat on her bed just staring into space.

She went and sat down beside her and put her hand over her thigh

"Sweetheart I know how you must be feeling and I'm really sorry"

"How could she do that" Charlotte said "we must mean nothing to her or she wouldn't have tried to ..."

"Hey we don't know why your mum did what she tried to do, but what I do know is you and Chloe are everything to her and she loves you both so so much"

"Then why did she ..."

"I don't know love I really don't" Rachel said wrapping her arms tightly around Charlotte, although Charlotte fought hard to stop them, she couldn't help a few tears falling down her face, she tried to stop her crying, feeling embarrassed for crying so much I. Front if her auntie.

"It's okay darling you have a little cry" Rachel whispered ribbing her back gently just as she would do if one of the little ones were upset.

Charlotte managed to pull herself together and sit up.

"Sorry" she mumbled

"There's nothing to be sorry for my love, I understand what a horrible shock it must have been for you"

"Thanks Rach, you know for coming so soon"

"I wouldn't have done anything else" Rachel said "now are you going to pack a bag, I'll go and help Chloe"

"Okay how much stuff should I bring"

"Just as much as you can"

Rachel then got up and went into Chloe's room, but she stopped when she got to the door

"Don't cry Chloe you're mummy will be okay" Alice said the two of them were cuddling each other tightly and Rachel felt a lump form in her throat

"Alice is right you know sweetheart" Rachel said "come on let's get your bag packed"

Rachel went into her drawers and started getting some tops out

"Right I'll pack clothes you pack socks, vests and knickers"

Chloe hastily wiped her tears away and began to pack her stuff.

When they were done the four of them went downstairs and into the car.

"When will you find out how mummy is"

"I'm going to ring the hospital as soon as we get back love"

They finished driving back home.

Danny was back and Immediately wrapped his arms around Rachel

"God rach I'm so sorry I wasn't there"

"Oh don't be daft it's fine" Rachel said "listen I'm going to make a call to the hospital, you keep an eye on the girls"

Rachel then noticed Chloe stood next to her, Chloe was feeling really weird although she'd been here so many times she felt really on edge and didn't know what to do.

"Are you going to go upstairs love, you and Alice can go in the playroom for a bit"

Alice nodded and went upstairs

Rachel stepped into the back room with Danny and rang the hospital.

After quite a long time talking she out the phone down and turned to Danny

"How is she?"

"They say she's stable but they don't know how bad she is yet" Rachel said tears starting to form in her eyes "oh god it was so close Danny"

"Come here" Danny said wrapping his arms around her.

Rachel relaxed into him, his strong arms around her made her feel secure and safe.

"How did the girls seem"

"Bad" Rachel said "Charlotte knew exactly what had gone on, but poor Alice she was so upset"

They continued to chat for a bit longer and then Rachel went up to check on the girls.

Charlotte was in one of the spare rooms, she had the tv on in there but Rachel could tell she wasn't really watching it.

"Everything okay love, you need a chat or anything"

"No I'm fine"

"Okay but you know where I am yes?"

Charlotte nodded her head so Rachel closed the door and left her to it

She then went Into the other spare room where Chloe was, she walked in and saw her sat on the bed looked frightened as though she didn't really know what to do with herself

"You okay love, you can go and put a film on or something with Alice if you want you know"

"I'm okay" Chloe mumbled

Rachel sat down next to her and put her arm around her supportively

"Your mummy will be okay you know" Rachel said "though I know me saying that isn't enough to stop you worrying"

"I'll be okay"

"Well if you need anyone to talk to at all you come straight to me"

"Thanks auntie Rachel"

"You sure you don't want to go and have a little play with Alice for a bit"

Although Chloe didn't really want to she felt it would be ride to say no so went into the playroom with Alice and the two of them chose a film to watch on Netflix.

Rachel smiled when she saw them sat together and went to check on Charlotte.

"I rang the hospital" Rachel Said

"What did they say" Charlotte asked sounding worried

"That your mums stable"

"That's good isn't it?"

"Yeah it is love" Rachel said "look I don't want to go to the hospital tonight, I think it won't do you and Chloe any good seeing your mum tonight, but tomorrow I thought we could have a day out and then we get back me and you can go over together, Chloe too depending on how your mums feeling"

"Go for a day out?" Charlotte said in disbelief "so mum could finish up in a really bad way and all you're bothered about is having a day at the bloody park"

"You know I didn't mean it like that, it's more for Chloe than anyone, she's really upset and she needs something to take her mind off it"

"Do you think she's the only one who's really upset"

"Well I understand that ..."

"You don't understand anything"

"Come on Charlotte you know you can talk to me"

"Oh just sod off will you" she snapped

Rachel was a bit taken a back by this, Charlotte would never normally speak to her like that and they normally got on so well, but Rachel wasn't going to say anything to her for snapping after all she did know how tough today must have been, so just sighed and left her room.

She was about to go downstairs when Ellie appeared at her bedroom door

"Mum can I talk to you a second?" Ellie asked

"Yeah sure" Rachel said going into her daughters bedroom

"What is it love?" She asked

"Well I was wondering if we could go and see Mel tonight"

"Love I think it's for the best if we leave that till tomorrow"

"Okay I'm just worried about her that's all"

"I know but I don't think she'll be able to take in much at the moment and seeing her would probably upset the girls so best leave it for tonight yeah"

"Yeah I know what you mean"

Rachel smiled at her before going into the playroom to check on the girls.

She saw them cuddled up in the sofa with a blanket over there legs,they really did look very cute though Chloe still looked really upset.

"Hey girls" Rachel said smiling "is the film any good"

"Yes mummy the girl in it's really funny"

"Oh well that's good then sweetheart" Rachel said smiling "anyway I'll leave you to it"

"No mummy come and watch with us"

Rachel was desperate for just an hour or so to herself so really wanted to go down, but she felt really mean saying no so sat down on the end of the sofa next to Chloe, who was on the middle of the three of them.

To her surprise after about 10 minutes Rachel found herself getting really into the film despite it just being a kids movie, however she really want a cup of coffee.

"Is it okay if I just go and make myself a cuppa, I'll be back up in 2 minutes"

"Okay but don't start talking to Danny like you normally do because then you won't come up"

"Okay, okay I won't" Rachel said smiling

She went downstairs and made herself a drink and grabbed some snacks for the girls, as Danny had only just started cooking tea so she imagined it would be quite a while.

Rachel then went back in and put the stuff out.

"Thanks mummy" Alice said

"That's alright I think tea will be a while so this is just to keep you going till tea time"

"What's for tea" Alice asked

"That pasta we all like"

"The creamy one"

"Yep now shh let's watch the film"

Rachel relaxed back down on the sofa and continued to watch however after a while she felt Chloe's leg jiggling next to her so guessed she needed to go to the loo.

"Chloe do you need to go for a wee" Rachel asked

Chloe nodded her head

"Go on then love we'll pause the film while you go"

Chloe got off and ran to the loo

"Why didn't she just go instead of waiting ages"

"What like you never do that missus" Rachel said laughing

"Now we've got to stop the film it's not fair"

"She'll be gone all of 2 minutes, I'm sure you can wait"

When Chloe came back Rachel smiled at her as she sat back down on the sofa, Rachel then out her arm around the two girls so the two of them could snuggle into her.

They were Just at the end of the film when Danny called them down for tea, however it was only when Rachel put the lights back on when she noticed Chloe had tears in her eyes again but she quickly kept brushing them away obviously feeling embarrassed crying in front of Alice

"Alice go downstairs and sit at the table tell Danny me and Chloe will be down in a minute I just need her help with something"

"I can help too"

"You can help yes, by telling Danny we'll be down soon"

"But can't Chloe do that and me help you"

"Just do as I ask"

Alice sighed but went downstairs anyway and told Danny

Rachel then put her arms around Chloe who started crying into her again

"Oh sweetheart it's okay"

"I want to know how mummy is" Chloe sobbed "I hate not knowing"

"I know love" Rachel said "I've given the hospital another ring and they said she's doing okay"

"So she'll definitely be fine then"

"Well we can't say that but it's definitely looking promising"

The two of them kept talking until Chloe felt a bit better

"You going to come and have some tea then?"

Chloe nodded so Rachel took hold of her small hand and led her down

They all sat at the table and ate there dinner however no one was talking very much

"Alice and Chloe it's time for your bath now, it's getting really late"

Rachel went up and ran a bath for them and got them both in, luckily her bath was big and the two of them were little so she could put them both in together.

"Right how do you two want to sleep tonight, it's a Friday so if you want to both sleep in Alice's bed that's fine but Chloe if you want to sleep in your usual room that's fine too"

Chloe really didn't want to sleep with Alice as she wanted some time on her own and she was worried she'd finish up getting all upset like she often did in the night time if something bad had happened and she really didn't want to wake Alice up

"Yay can Chloe really stay with me it'll be really fun"

"Okay but I don't want the two of you up really late Chloe's had a tough day and needs her sleep"

"I won't talk that much I promise"

When Rachel had dried them both off and they were all walking back to Alice's room to dry there hair off Chloe tugged on Rachel's sleeve,

"Alice go and wait in your room a sec" Rachel said before going with Chloe into the spare room

"What is it love?" She asked

"I'm really sorry but I really want to sleep in my own tonight"

"That's no problem love it's perfectly understandable"

"But I feel really bad Alice will be angry with me"

"No she won't, we'll just blame it on me okay"

Rachel then walked into Alice's room with Chloe

"I've changed my mind I want you and Chloe in separate rooms tonight"

"But mummy that's so unfair" Alice said sounding angry

"Well it's late already and I know what you can be like young lady"

"But I wanted Chloe to stay in my bed with me"

"Well they'll be other times, maybe tomorrow if you're good girls"

She then dried there hairs off and got them in pyjamas.

"Can you come into my bed and read a story"

"Sure, Alice do you want to get in too"

Alice nodded so once they'd picked out a story the three of them all got in Alice's bed with Rachel in the middle of them.

She read to the pair of them for a good half hour but after a while everyone was getting sleepy so she folded the page over and promised to read some more tomorrow night.

"Come on then, I know I made you brush your teeth earlier but just go for a wee before bed, Alice you use the main bathroom, Chloe use the one in your room"

Rachel tucked Alice up first however when she went in to see Chloe she saw she was already asleep obviously extremely tired after such a hectic day.

She hadn't got the covers properly over herself so Rachel tucked her in properly before kissing her on the forehead gently.

She walked across the landing and suddenly Charlotte came out of her bedroom

"Rachel can I have a word?" She asked

"Sure"

"I just wanted to say I'm really sorry about the way I was earlier i didn't mean to be horrible to you" Charlotte said sounding small

"That's alright my love,you weren't being horrible, everyone gets upset from time to time"

"I know but I shouldn't have taken it out on you"

"Well I'm glad you did, I'd rather you take it out on me than on anyone else or yourself for that matter"

"Thanks for not being mad about it"

"Course I'm not mad about it, it's not like you said anything awful, and if you really don't want to go out tomorrow that's fine too, we can just have a quiet day and see your mum on the night time"

"No you're right it'll be nice to get out the house, maybe go to the beech or something"

"Yeah okay then"

Charlotte smiled at her aunt and the two of them went downstairs to watch tv with Ellie and Danny.

After about an hour or so Chloe and Ellie both said they were feeling tired so went up to bed.

"The girls seem a lot calmer" Danny commented when the girls had gone upstairs

"Yeah I think they are, Chloe's still very tearful though bless her"

"Did you get her off to sleep okay"

"Yeah she went straight away she must have been exhausted"

"Well hopefully a good nights sleep will do her the world of good"

"Normally it works wonders"

Chloe had been asleep a few hours but woke up after having a really bad dream, she was dripping in sweat and she was crying her eyes out, she also felt scared because of how dark it was in her room. Her pyjamas were really wet too, she thought at first it was just from her night sweat but she realised she just have had an accident as well.

She climbed out of bed and went down the stairs, because she didn't want to stay in her room by herself and wanted her auntie to make things better like she always did.

However when she got downstairs and saw Rachel and Danny sat together having there coffee in the living room she felt scared to go in, as they both looked so relaxed and didn't feel comfortable going in, she stood shaking and crying at the door and eventually Rachel saw her.

"Hey love, you can come in we won't bite" Rachel said thinking Chloe must have just woken up and not been able to get back to sleep, however when she came in she saw how upset she looked.

"Oh dear" Rachel said "come on, come and have a cuddle and tell me all about it" Chloe walked over and sat down on Rachel's knee.

Danny stayed sitting down feeling really sorry for Chloe as like Rachel he hated seeing kids upset.

"I had a bad dream about mummy" Chloe sobbed "I dreamt she died"

"Well it's a good thing dreams aren't real then isn't it, come on calm down for me sweetheart"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get so upset"

"That's alright we can't help getting upset from time to time can we" Rachel Said "you're pyjamas are soaked love"

"I was all sweaty when I woke up" Chloe cried

"Well we better get them changed before you go back to sleep" Rachel said "Danny go and get her a drink of water"

Danny got up and got a glass and brought it to Alice who was still cuddled tightly up to Rachel.

Once she'd calmed down a bit Rachel carried her back upstairs, and to her bedroom

"Get those pyjamas off love there covered in sweat"

Chloe took them off and put some fresh ones in and handed them to her aunt, but then Rachel realised how wet the bottoms were and when she pulled back the covers she saw the damp patch on her bed

"Darling are you sure it was just a night sweat you had?"

Chloe nodded her head as tears began to form in her eyes again

"It's not that you had a bit of an accident, because you can tell me if you have you know" Rachel said very gently

Chloe then burst into tears and wrapped her arms round her auntie "I'm so sorry auntie Rachel"

"Hey don't be sorry sweetheart" Rachel said "don't cry, I'm not going to get angry, you could have told me my love, you must know me better by now than to think I'm going to get mad over something you can't control"

Chloe was shaking again so Rachel put her back on her knee and soothed her.

"There, see it's okay" Rachel whispered "don't you cry sweetheart"

"I'm really scared" Chloe sobbed into Rachel

"What you scared of love"

"Everything, I'm scared mummy's going to get really poorly and die and I'm scared I have the same nightmare when I go back to sleep, and I'm really scared because it's so dark in here"

"I didn't know you were frightened of the dark"

"I'm not normally"

Chloe continued to cry into Rachel and it was obvious she wasn't going to calm herself down enough to go back to sleep.

"Hey I'll tell you what we'll do, you come back down and sit on my knee for a while then you stay nice and close to me on my bed tonight in case you get scared"

"Will Danny mind"

"No I'm sure he won't" Rachel said

Rachel then took the sheet from Chloe's bed and out it in the wash basket.

"Do you want a shower or anything to freshen up sweetie"

"No it's okay" Chloe replied

Rachel then carried her back down the stairs and sat down with her on the sofa opposite from Danny

"I thought you were taking her up to bed Rach" Danny said

"I know but she's not feeling too great are you Chloe so she's going to stay with me"

The sound of Rachel and Danny's chatter was making Chloe feel really sleepy and before long she'd fallen fast asleep In Rachel's arms

"Oh good she's fallen asleep" Danny said

"She was in an awful way before the poor little kid" Rachel said kissing her on the cheek gently

"At least she's got you Rach, even though Mel's in hospital"

"I know I just want her to feel relaxed around me, I know I'm we auntie so we see each other all the time, but you know what Chloe's like she can get herself in a state about things so easily other little things, she just gets it into her head I'm going to be cross with her, I just want her to be able to come to me"

The two of them talked for a bit longer before going up to bed, Rachel carried Chloe up and out her in bed next to her and cuddled into her.

Chloe did wake up a couple of times through the night, but As soon as she started getting upset and this relaxed her loads so she just snuggled back up to her auntie again and fell asleep.

Please review and suggest ideas cxxxxxxx


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